Nature Over Nurture
by Kali-Nineteen
Summary: Problems emerge when Sam is tormented by vivid & realistic nightmares of two unknown characters fighting over his life. Shortly after, life-threatening things happen to him. Not to mention Sam's stalker and Morgan escaping from hell. Sequel to Amends
1. My Stalker

**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own_ Reaper_. If I did, their would be a kick ass--in my opinion--season three coming up. _

* * *

I woke up from my sleep feeling like a zombie from the movie, _Night of the Living Dead_. I put my left hand on my forehead and let out a light moan. _How did I get such a bad headache? _I thought miserably and stood up from my bed. I then walked out of the bedroom, through the living room and into the kitchen; hoping that their was still some Aspirin left in the drawer.

Once in the kitchen, I went to a drawer beside the fridge to see if an non-empty bottle of Aspirin was still there. To my great relief, there were a few still inside. Just as I was about to open it, I saw something move from the corner of my eye. I turned my head to the kitchen table to see a man with sandy blond hair, a white collared shirt, and a tie. He had a rifle strapped to his back by a black leather band and was sitting at the table, eating Sock's sacred cereal.

It felt like all the blood in my body drained. "Seth! What the hell are you doing here?" I asked him in a hushed tone, trying not to wake up anyone that was still asleep.

He looked up as he continued to eat Sock's cereal. "I was hungry," he answered simply as he put the spoon into his mouth.

I narrowed my eyes with irritation. "Yeah? Well, Nina's here. And if she sees you she might just decide that it would be a better idea to kill me than to let me live!" I said as softly as I could.

Seth rolled his eyes as he put the spoon into his half-full bowl. "No she won't. She and her little demon friends _think _that you have an other purpose. Remember?" he said then put his pinky finger up in a term of mockery. "Idiots," he sneered then started to eat Sock's cereal again.

I felt my mouth quiver, but didn't know what to say back to him. I gawked at him for a few seconds until I heard footsteps coming our way. "Come on, you have to leave!" I yelped at him.

Seth snorted. "It's not Nina," he replied calmly.

He was right. I turned my head to the living room and saw Sock walking towards us. I bit the inside of my cheek hard as I watched him come into the kitchen with us and stare wide-eyed at Seth. The man eating with a gun, eating his cereal.

Sock looked between me and Seth for a moment. "Who is that, why does he have a gun and why is he eating my cereal?" he asked me in a shaky voice.

I opened my mouth to answer him but- "I'm Seth," Seth told him. "I have my rifle with me because it's a necessity of mine. Don't worry though; I won't use it on you. And I'm eating this cereal because Sam said I could," he told him smoothly, lying at the last part, and maybe even the part before that.

Sock looked at me, his face completely red. "Why did you do that Sam?! You know that I don't like other people eating _**my**_ cereal!!" he shouted then stormed off out of the kitchen.

I glowered at Seth, who just looked back at me with a mischievous, and slightly crazy, grin then tapped this temple with his left index finger. "You have to be quick if you don't want to get into trouble," he said then drank the remaining milk that was in the cereal bowl. "That's your first lesson," he said, stood up, walked over to the sink and put the bowl into it.

"What is that suppose to mean?" I asked him. Seth turned around so he was facing me, he had a smirk plastered on his face.

"It means that when I'm forcefully done with you, everyone up-stairs and down-stairs is going to refer to you as Loki," he told me, with determined eyes. "Or LJ."

-------

Once I was at work at seven, Seth seemed to disintegrate into the air. Which I was thankful for; it felt like he was a stalker. The thought of it only made my head hurt even worse.

_Now I can finally tell Sock and Ben what is going on._ I thought as I walked into the locker room to put my ugly blue apron on.

When I came into the room I saw that they were in there too, in front of their lockers. When Sock saw me he snorted. "Come to steal some more of my cereal?" he asked me arrogantly.

I rolled my eyes as I went up to my own locker and opened it up. "I didn't tell him he could have your cereal," I told him. "When I woke up and went into the kitchen I saw him there already eating it," I said to him sincerely.

Sock rolled his eyes too then sighed. "Okay, I believe you," he said and slammed his locker shut. "Who is he anyway? I know is name is Seth, but _who _is he?" he asked me.

I bit my lip and tried to think of the best way to tell them who he was. "He's one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, like Taylor," I replied to him. "He's the first one. Conquest," I said.

Ben gave me a puzzled look. "What does conquest mean?" he asked.

"Taking over other countries," I replied, remembering Seth explaining to me what it was a few nights ago.

"I thought they could only come into you in your dreams," Sock said.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Apparently not," I said as I put my apron on. "And unlike Taylor he's… more stalker-ish," I said and slammed my locker shut as well.

"Ouch. That really hurts my feelings," I heard Seth's voice say behind me. I jumped and turned around, but didn't see anyone behind me. I looked at Ben and Sock.

"Did you hear that?" I asked them. They looked at me with confused expressions.

Sock shook his head. "No," he said then sniffed his shirt sleeve. "Yuck. I'm going to have to wash this shirt. Eventually."

-------

_I hate double shifts._ I thought sourly as I did the last of the closing arrangements. _At least I don't have the graveyard shift again._ I shivered at the memory of counting everything in the store as punishment for Sock and I throwing something at a customer.

When I was finally done I put my apron into my locker and met Sock and Ben over at the exit doors. "Are you going to ride with Sock again?" I asked Ben as we all started to walk down the parking lot.

Ben shrugged his shoulders. "I guess," he replied.

My car came up first. I walked to it and gave them a short wave of 'see you in a bit', and sat in the driver's seat. Once I started to drive out of the parking lot I heard- "So, how was your day?" beside me. I took a quick glance to my right and saw Seth sitting in the passenger's seat of my car.

I groaned. "What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"So that's what I get for not being around for 16 hours? Nice Sam. Now you really have hurt my feelings," he said sarcastically.

I continued to stare at the windshield, as I made a right to get out of the parking lot. "Are you a stalker or something?" I asked him.

Seth paused for a moment. "In modern terms I suppose," he replied.

There was a few minutes of silences. I was actually surprised that he stayed in the car the whole time. If he were the Devil, he would have left ages ago. _Maybe he wasn't lying about being bored,_ I thought.

After awhile Seth finally broke the silence. "The Bargain Bench will not be reopening its doors," he said in an as-a-matter-of-fact way.

I cocked an eyebrow. "Why?" I asked.

He chuckled lightly. "It was one of the many things I was busy with today," he replied mischievously.

-------

It was nice to finally be at the house. I could sleep and finally be away from Seth. _That is if he doesn't go into your dreams,_ a little voice reminded in the back of my head.

I didn't bother check to see if Seth followed me into the house, or if he just disappeared. Once I was in the house I went straight to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. Once I was done, I went into the bedroom, threw on some PJs, fell onto my bed, and closed my eyes.

The next thing I knew I was on the ceiling. Not literally though. It was almost like one of those out of body experiences that people talk about on TV sometimes. I could see myself down below me, sleeping.

I don't now how long I was just floating there. But after awhile I saw an inky-black haired man walk up to my sleeping body. He looked around the room, like he was checking to see if anyone else was with him then pulled out a thick note book and started to write something into it.

"So you decided to come in person this time?" I heard a man's voice say, then all the sudden a dark brown haired man materialized beside the other man. The black haired man bared his teeth at him as he slammed his notebook shut.

"I didn't think _you_'d come here so soon," the black haired man said, his voice would have made the hair stand up on my neck if I was awake.

The brunette, who seemed to have a white glow on his skin, sighed and looked at my sleeping body. "You know there are alternatives Zachary," he said to the black haired man.

The black haired man, Zachary, rolled his eyes. "I've already tried a few," he said bitterly. "Two things come to mind-" he said but was cut off.

"So you gave up?" The brown haired man said in a questioning tone.

Zachary shrugged his shoulders. "No. I've just gone back to what is native to me," he said with an evil grin.

The brown haired man narrowed his eyes. "God wants Sam alive. And it's my job to make sure that he stays that way," he said to him.

"I don't care what _God_ wants," Zachary replied with a sneer. "I'm going to kill Sam one way or another, and you can watch me do it," he said then disappeared.

The brown haired man grunted. After a few moments he put on a confused face then looked up to the ceiling where I was.

I woke up with a gasp, and scanned the room. _It was just a nightmare,_ I told myself and took a deep breath. _It couldn't have been real, whenever I have a real dream here is always a fog over my eyes at first, _I thought to myself.

_But that was when Taylor or Seth brought your conscious somewhere,_ the little voice in the back of my head said to me. _This time you did it on your own, Samuel…_


	2. The Toyota

I didn't get much sleep the rest of the night. I had too many questions going through my mind, and was too startled by my dream to fall asleep. So, for the sake of not having to be around Seth, I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep, instead of watching TV, for the next four hours. I ended up doing this until I heard my alarm clock going off at six in the morning.

I opened my eyes, actually feeling like I could finally fall asleep. _At least I only have first shift today_, I reminded myself miserably as I got up from bed and went into the bathroom.

-------

"An interesting dream," Sock commented as we left the house to go to our cars.

"What do you think it means?" Ben asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not sure. I don't even really know if it was real or not. This dream just seemed too… vivid," I replied as I went over to my car.

"I'll go with you this time," Ben said to me as he went into the passenger's seat and I went into the driver's seat of my car. Once Sock pulled out with his car, I was able to get out as well. After I was on the street I took a quick glance at the rear view mirror and sighed.

"What?" Ben asked.

I shook my head and replied, "Nothing." I didn't bother telling him that I haven't seen Seth at all yet. Even though he was irritating, there was a part of me that wanted to tell him about my dream. He of all people would be able to at least make some sense of it and probably tell me the truth. Unlike the Devil.

As I was driving down a back road so I could get to the Work Bench more quickly, my car came to a screeching halt. "What the hell?" I muttered as I pushed down on the gas, but my car refused to budge. Ben looked at me with a arched eyebrow, and I merely shrugged my shoulders. My car had _never_ done anything like that before. It did disappear from the garage and then reappear at the Work Bench handicap spots once, but it never just stopped by itself.

Not really knowing what to do in a situation like this, I tried turning the car off, and then back on. Once it was back on, I tried the gas pedal again with no luck. "Oh crap! Sam, get out!" I heard Ben say beside me as he took his seat belt off and ran out of the car. I turned my head to the windshield and saw a dark blue Toyota, on the wrong side of the road, speeding to at least 80 miles an hour, toward my car.

I didn't want my car to get hit, but I also didn't want to take the chance of getting flattened, so I tried to take my seat belt off. To my extraordinarygood luck however, it ended up being stuck. "Come on!" I yelped, feeling modified, as I tried to get my seat belt off. The truck wasn't far from me now. At this point, I was wondering what level of Hell I was going to end up at. But then I heard a light click beside me. I turned my head over and saw that my car's gears went into reverse by itself. It then started to drive backward and in an right angle so it went off of the street. Yet, it did this without me ever touching anything.

The truck turned off the street as well, and because of the speed and angle it was now going, it would hit the side of my car in a few seconds. My car however, started to speed up even faster, and the Toyota ended up crashing into a tree over to the right instead of my car. The moment it crashed, my car stopped moving.

My mind raced as I sat there for a few moments, trying to absorb it all in. Eventually, I put the car back to drive, and pushed the gas pedal, and my car slowly crept to the truck. When I was close enough to see if anyone was in it, I turned my head but saw no one inside its twisted metal fame.

So, I got out of the car and walked up to the truck, thinking that who ever was in it was lying on the vehicle's seats. Once I got over to it and looked through its passenger's side window however, and still saw nobody inside of it. Even if anyone would have left the truck (which I greatly doubted because I could now see that the truck's front was pushed inside and any normal person would have been pinned inside of it) I would have seen them.

Goosebumps formed on my skin as I jogged back to my car. After I was back inside it, I started to drive away. I saw Ben leaning on another tree a ways back after only a few seconds. When I got to him, I stopped the car. Ben walked over to me, with wide eyes, and went into the passenger's seat.

"What the hell just happened?" he asked shakily as I drove back onto the street.

My mouth trembled, "I think my dream did."

-------

I went into the Work Bench, wanting nothing more than to actually see Seth, Andi, Sock, or even the Devil for once, so I could tell them what happened. I was really confused and scared, and I thought talking to someone else would help. Especially someone that could tell me what was going on.

"Sam," Ben said beside me as we walked over to the locker room.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I am never riding with you again," he told me.

Once we were in the locker room and put on our aprons we went to the Garden Center, remembering that was were Sock was working that day.

We walked around for a few moments until we finally found him on a few bags of fertilized dirt, sleeping. Ben and I walked up to him, looked at each other then nodded. "SOCK!" we both yelled in unison.

Sock's eye lids flung open and he put his hands over his face. "What?" he asked us groggily as he tried to sit up, but ended up falling off the bags of dirt and onto the floor.

I gave him my hand, which he gladly took, and I helped him up. "I thought you two were supposed to be at the normal part of the store," he said and started to rub his left eye.

Ben nodded. "Yeah, but we have to tell you what just happened to us," he told Sock then looked at me as if I was the one who had to explain all of it.

I rolled my eyes and explained to him about my car stopping, the Toyota, everything. Once I was done Sock gave me a weird look. "Maybe that Zachary dude from your dream was trying to kill you," he commented.

I sighed. "I don't know… It's just every time I have a dream that's real-" I started.

"Yeah, but no one gave you the dream this time," Ben said. "Maybe the only reason your vision was foggy when Seth and Taylor were giving you dreams was because they were forcing you to see certain things. This time your body did it naturally," he told me.

I tried to reply, but couldn't decide what to say. _That does make sense_, I thought.

"Yeah, but how did the car start driving by itself?" I asked.

Sock, Ben and I all looked at each other. "Probably Seth, the Devil, or the brown haired man from your dream," Ben said.

"Wow, you're very idea oriented today Benjamin," Sock commented with a nod.

"Thanks," Ben replied with a grin.

_Well, I can scratch out the Devil_, I thought. Even though he wasn't so bent on killing me now, I knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't go out of his way and rescue me. _It must been either Seth or the brunette from my dream_, I reasoned with myself.

I was trying to think how I would find Seth now, rather than waiting for him to show up after work until- "Sam?" I heard someone say from behind me. I turned around and saw Ted.

"Yeah?" I asked him. _Oh crap. Don't tell me he's going to give me another speech about slacking off and being in the wrong area of the building again._

"Could you come to my office for a few minutes? I need to talk to you about the papers you turned into my desk last night," Ted said to me.

_Papers?_ I thought and glanced at Sock and Ben with confusion as I followed Ted out of the Garden Center.


	3. Risk

Once I walked into Ted's office, I immediately noticed he had put up all of his motivational posters again. _Eck,_ I though sourly.

Ted walked to his desk and sat on the chair behind it slowly. "You can sit down too," he said to me as he picked a blue pen up it front of him and started to click it excessively.

I nodded and sat in the chair in front of his desk. Ted sighed, and stopped clicking his pen. "Why do you want to leave, Sam?" he asked me casually.

I cocked my eyebrows, confused by his question. "What?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes, sighed, then grabbed a couple stapled sheets of paper on his right and put them in front of me. "You gave me your two week resignation last night," he told me. "I didn't see you personally, but it has your name on it and is in your hand writing," he said and nudged his hand to the papers in front of me.

I looked down at them and read it. It was obviously my chicken scratch handwriting when I was attempting to write more neatly. It even had my signature on the bottom.

"It must have took you a lot of time and effort for you to write out three pages by hand for me," Ted commented then put the papers back to where they were before. "Something I'm pretty impressed with," he added.

_Seth,_ I thought angrily. _So, _this_ is what he was doing yesterday when I was at work._

"Quite a big decision to quit Sam," Ted said, breaking my trail of thoughts. "You know since _the Bargain Bench _closed down because of the rats they found, we have been getting a lot more business. So, if your other job goes down the toilet, we'll still be hiring," he said in an as-a-matter-of-factly way.

_Seth must have put the rats in _the Bargain Bench_ as well,_ I thought. I remembered him telling me that he was responsible for closing it for good, but not explaining why.

"Yeah, I'll remember," I said to him slowly and then stood up from the chair.

"Oh, and good luck," Ted said to me as I walked out of his office.

I grunted in response as I closed the door behind me and started to walk over to the Garden Center. Wanting to tell Sock and Ben about what happened. When I walked by the restrooms, I heard, "Hey, look what I found on clearance at Wal-Mart."

I turned around and saw Seth standing in the entrance of the Men's room. The door and the wall were blocking out my view, and probably the cameras view, of his rifle. Then I saw that there was a rectangular box in his hands with the word "Risk" on it.

"Sweet, huh?" he said to me and looked at the board game with a pleased grin on his face.

"What are you doing here and what is that?" I asked him and pointed to the game he had in his hands.

"Only the best board game ever. _Risk_," he said delightedly as he continued to look at it. "Do you have any idea how long I have been looking for one? Now I can force you to play it with me."

I glowered at him, but he didn't seem to notice, he was too absorbed looking at the picture in the front of the game's box. "So, apparently _someone_ turned in a two weeks notice for me," I said to him impatiently.

Seth looked back up at me once I spoke. "Yeah, that was me," he said bluntly then set his eyes back onto his board game.

"Why would you-" I started, but my frustration overwhelmed me and I pushed past him into the Men's room. He sighed and moved further inside so that the door could close.

"Why would you do that?" I asked him.

Seth looked around the restroom, acting as if the answer to my question was as obvious as daylight. "You can't take control of the city, let alone the world, working at this dump," he said flatly then sat _Risk_ on the sink beside him.

I pressed my lips together in frustration. "Then where will I work until that happens? I hope you know that powerful positions aren't open to people with a high school average of a C-," I said to him, with unrealistic hopes that this statement would make him realize he had the wrong person.

He just shrugged his shoulders. "It's easy Sam, trust me," Seth told me then patted me on the shoulder. He then picked up his new board game and walked out of the Men's room.

I stood their for a moment, then jogged out of the restroom and glanced around. He was already gone. _Damn it,_ I cursed at myself. _I can't believe I forgot to tell him about my dream and what happened to me._

I sighed and bit my lip as I started to walk back to the Garden Center again. _Maybe it's better if he doesn't know,_ I thought to myself. _He already thinks I'm worth stalking. If he knows someone that's not human is out to kill me, it might only end up encouraging him._

I kept on this way of thinking as I continued to walk until I reminded myself that he probably already knows.

-------

"I don't think she'll do it, Sock," Ben said to him as he scrabbled in his pockets for the keys to the house.

Sock snorted. "She so will. Right Sam?" he said.

"Huh?" I answered, not paying attention to what they were talking about.

Sock rolled his eyes as I heard the front door open and all three of us walked back into the house.

"Just don't do it," Ben said to Sock.

"Why not?" he whined. "I don't see any reason not to-" Sock continued but stopped speaking and instead started staring off into the living room.

I turned my head over to my right, to see what he was looking at, and saw Seth sitting in the middle of the living room floor, setting up his board game. He looked up at us, after a few moments. "Hi guys," he said to us then looked back down at the game for a brief second, before looking back up at Sock, Ben and me. "Who wants to play _Risk_ with Sam and me?"

"I'm not going play with you, Seth. I'm too tired," I said to him wearily.

He frowned and looked me straight in the eye. "Well, you're going to have to suck it up and drink some coffee, because I want to play _Risk_," he said to me in a tone so captivating, it made me feel like I had no choice but to obey him.

"O-okay," I stammered and started to walk over to him, but someone grabbed my shoulder, making me stop. I turn my head around to see who it was, Sock.

"No, I think Samuel needs a nap. He's had a long night," he said to Seth.

Seth in return looked between Sock and me for a moment the shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever, but in an hour I'm waking you up so you can play with me," he said to me then looked at Sock. "Have anything good on the DVR?" he asked him.

"The movie _Bride of Chucky _and a few episodes of _One Life to Live_," Sock replied.

Seth snorted. "I can't take anymore day time television. So, _Bride of Chucky_ it is," he said, stood up then looked at me. "Well, go take your nap. I want to play _Risk_ with you soon."


	4. You Don't Have To

It took me longer to fall asleep than I anticipated. I was just laying there for a few minutes, feeling like I was slowly sinking into my bed. (I couldn't sleep on the couch, because Sock and Seth had the TV cranked up to max.)

When I finally did fall asleep, I was consumed by a bright red light that made my eyes burn. After a few moments however, my eyes seemed to adjust to it and I could see that I was by a huge black river. There was no grass underneath me, just mud, and I could discern where the bright red light was coming from. The sky was completely enveloped in it.

I stood there for several moments, just looking around, until I heard two people talking to my right. I turned my head and saw a man who was probably about my age. He had jet-black hair, a fair completion, and was wearing a black hoodie with matching baggy pants.

Next to him was a tall man. I couldn't tell what he looked like or what he was wearing, because he was completely covered from head to foot in soot and mud.

"Where are we, Hade?" the tall man asked the one with the hoodie, his voice was low, as if he had a bad cold. Hade didn't answer for a few moments and they both continued walking closer to me. It seemed like they either didn't notice I was here, or couldn't see me for some reason.

"Level five," he finally answered.

The tall man snorted. "How do you know?" he asked him, then let out a loud cough.

Hade didn't answer, but instead pointed at the huge black river in front of them. The tall man grumbled something under his breath that I couldn't hear.

"Well, I could always drop you back off at level nine with all your new friends. I'm sure Zachary won't care. Because I don't," Hade told him bitterly and stopped walking once they were at the river.

"What are we suppose to do? Swim over to the other side?" the tall man asked him. Hade in return, looked at him and started laughing as if what the other man said to him was some hilarious joke.

After a few moments, he finally stopped laughing then shook his head. "No. Well, unless you want to be consumed with rage and hate for the rest of eternity," he said, then squatted down and started to dig in the mud with his hands. "Come on. You have to help," Hade said to the other man.

"What are you doing?" the tall man asked cockily and stared down at Hade with disgust.

"Shut up and dig or else you're doing back," Hade answered flatly.

I woke up hearing a woman scream in the living room. My eyelids flung open and I sat up, half wanting to run into the room and see whom it was. Until I remembered that Sock, Ben and Seth were watching _Bride of Chucky_ and that's where the screams were probably coming from.

I sighed and flopped back, laying down, and looked at my watch. Four more minutes until Seth was supposed to wake me up. The thought of him made my stomach turn._ How do you even play _Risk_ anyway? _I thought grimly and started to imagine Seth sitting down on the floor with me, trying to teach me how to play it for the next two hours. The thought made me cringe.

_I can't tell Seth about my dreams,_ I thought. Suddenly my thoughts turned back to my two past dreams, and what happened with the car. I didn't know why at the time, but somehow I knew that Seth didn't know about them, and that it should be kept that way. "Hade," I said softly. _What kind of name is that?_ I thought. _I nickname for Hayden, maybe._ I sucked the inside of my cheek for a moment in contemplation.

"Sam…" I heard someone say behind the door. "It's time to wake up," the voice said in a soft, fake melody.

"I'm up," I replied, not bothering to hide my irritation. I then saw the bedroom door open up and Seth standing in its entrance. I let out a light moan and stood up from my bed.

"Now that's what I call spirit," he said with a sarcastic and energetic voice then stepped out of my way so I could walk out of the room. Once I had walked out of the bedroom, Seth followed behind me. When we emerged into the living room, I saw Sock and Ben sitting on the sofa watching the movie.

I walked up to them and looked at the TV's screen for a moment. "How are they already at the cemetery? That's at the very end of the movie," I said to Sock. He shrugged his shoulders.

"We skipped all the boring parts," he replied, not looking away from the television. I nodded and looked at Seth, who was leaning against the wall on the other side of the room impatiently.

"How do you play it?" I asked him, my voice in the tone of defeat.

Seth smiled at me happy and sat down by the board game. "This game has a very easy concept," he said then waved his hand over the game. "World domination."

-------

If their was a world record on how fast a game of _Risk_ lasted, Seth and I had to have broken it. He destroyed me. Royally.

"Okay. Why did you want me to play with you when… Well… You knew this game is about _conquest_? You had to have known that you would kick the crap out of me in this," I said to him in annoyance.

Seth shrugged his shoulders, he had a small grin on his face. "You'll get better at it with time. Just like Ryan did with Sudoku," he said then started to put the plastic pieces into the _Risk_ box.

"I _really _doubt it," I said sourly, unhappy with the thought that Seth would be making me play it again.

He snorted and closed the lid over the box once everything was back in it. "I don't," he said simply, stood up with the box in his hands, and walked out of the living room and into where the bedrooms where.

I stood up as well, and sat on the sofa beside Sock. He was now watching the latest episode of _One Life to_ _Live_ on the DVR with Ben. "I had an other dream," I whispered to them softly, not wanting Seth to hear me talking to them.

They looked away from the TV. "You mean one with the brown haired, glowing guy?" Ben asked me.

"Why are we whispering?" Sock chimed in.

"I don't want Seth to hear us," I told Sock, looked back at Ben and told them about my new dream.

"A black river?" Ben said softly, with a confused look.

"It was probably just a nightmare," Sock said then looked back at the TV. Ben nodded with agreement, then looked back at the TV as well.

I sighed, not really knowing what to say to them. It didn't feel like only a nightmare to me, but what had happened in it just didn't add up.

-------

I woke up to my alarm clock the next morning and sighed with relief. I didn't have any dreams that night, that I could remember. I found that surprisingly pleasing. Having all those weird dreams was very… stressful. Then with Seth added on top of that made it even worse.

I looked over to my side and saw that Ben and Nina were still sleeping. I grunted and stood up from my bed. Not particularly happy that I was the only person stuck with first shift that day.

_Just think of the positives Sam,_ I thought to myself as I walked out of the bedroom and over to the bathroom. _Damn it, I can't think of any,_ I thought miserably and opened the bathroom door and walked in.

Except when I walked in I wasn't in the bathroom, I was in a department store. I was in the men's section. Racks of shirts and jeans surrounded me. I moaned with frustration, but was silently thankful that I put on PJ pants and a shirt this time instead of just boxers.

I looked around me for a moment, until I saw the Devil two racks behind me. He was looking at a rack pants. Sighing, I walked over to him.

"I've always thought that they had an interesting variety of clothes here," he told me without looking over. "If I didn't have a tailor, I would probably buy some of my clothes here," he said to me then pulled a pair of black slacks out. "Like Seth does," he said then put them back onto the rack.

"Seth buys his clothes here?" I asked him with a cocked eyebrow. He nodded, still not looking at me.

"How long have you known Seth has been stalking me?" I asked him bluntly. The Devil chuckled lightly and looked at me.

"Yeah, he does do that sometimes," he said with a pleasant smile then continued to look through the pants hanging on the rack.

I clenched my teeth with frustration. _Should have figured I wouldn't get a straight answer_. "So, who's the soul?" I asked him, wanting to get over with this.

The Devil shook his head, stopped raffling through the pants, and looked at me once more. "There's no soul that you have to catch this time, Sam," he said to me.

I frowned at him. "Then why did you bring me here?" I asked him impatiently. _Please not for clothes shopping. Please not for clothes shopping._

"To give you this," he said and handed me a key. It looked to be for a car, but I couldn't tell what type by just looking at it.

"What's this?" I said, feeling more and more impatient and irritated.

"Part of the vessel," he said simply. "The rest of it, is out in the parking lot."

"I thought you said that I don't have a soul to catch," I grumbled.

The Devil rolled his eyes. "No. I told you that you that you don't _have_ to catch him. I just think that it would be in you're best interest that you would," he told me and shrugged with shoulders slightly.

"Why?" I asked.

He smiled broadly at me, as if he was laughing at his own inside joke. "Because Morgan escaped from Hell yesterday."


	5. Oh, Wysocki

I felt my heart drop. "He _what_?" I yelped, trying my best to keep my voice under control. I remember not long ago, right after Morgan had died, the Devil had told about Morgan… being unhappy with me.

"He escaped last evening. Cool, huh? You know what know what's even cooler though?" he said in a happy and vaguely sarcastic voice. Before I could answer 'no', he continued talking. "He took one of the non-demon controlled shortcuts out of Hell. Straight into Seattle," he told me, with a wide grin spread across his face.

It felt like there where a hundred questions buzzing through my head at that moment. "There are shortcuts out of Hell?" I asked him.

The Devil rolled his eyes at me. "Of course there are, Sam. If there weren't, all the escaped souls would be going into Jerusalem," he said with a sigh, and then walked away.

"And he leaves me here again," I mumbled then looked at the supposed car key. _Or maybe I can drive out of here_, I thought, as I tried to think of how to capture Morgan with a car. _Hit him with it?_ I suggested to myself,as I walked out of the department store, and into the parking lot, ignoring the stares I was getting from people because of my pajamas.

To my luck, there were only about five cars in the lot, probably because of how early in the morning it was. Unfortunately though, I was going to have to try all of them because the key the Devil gave me didn't have any automatic buttons on it.

I first tried a beaten down red car, which resembled the one I had before I had the Hybrid. Thinking that it would be just the Devil's sense of humor. It however, didn't open. After I tried out two more cars, I came to a white Trans Am, which I guessed was from the 80s. I put the key into the driver's side lock, and to my utter shock, the door opened.

_How is Gladys going to get this through the tube to go into Hell?_ I thought suddenly, then shrugged. _Not my problem,_ I thought happily, as I jumped into the driver's seat and closed its door.

-------

Back at the house, my mind was numb from the mixture of questions that were still going though my head, the fright from Morgan escaping, and getting a car that I actually liked to use as a vessel. _It is going to suck if I do have to end up hitting him with it,_ I thought solemnly as I got out of it, locked it, and walked over to the house.

_Damn it, I'm going to have to get ready fast. I'm going to be late,_ I remembered, then went inside. Just as I was about to walk into the bathroom, something caught my eye as I walked passed the living room.

I stopped walking, turned my head and saw Sock sitting on the sofa, fully dressed, and watching TV as he ate his cereal. "What are you doing up?" I asked him. Normally when he had second shift, he slept in until noon. Therefore, it was quite a surprise to see him awake.

"I got my shift changed from second to first this week," he replied, not looking away from the TV's screen.

I cocked an eyebrow with disbelief and walked into the living room. "Are you feeling okay?" I asked him.

Sock snorted, and then looked at me. "I'm fine, thank you Samuel. I just decided to change shifts because I have a date at 8 tonight," he told me then put a spoon full of cereal into his mouth.

"With who?" I asked him curiously.

"Seth's mom. Didn't you hear Ben and me talking about it yesterday?" he replied simply, his mouth still full of cereal.

I stared at him with shock for a few moments. Sock however, didn't seem to notice, as he started to watch TV again. "_Why?_" I asked him shakily, trying not speak loudly enough to wake up the Ben and Nina. Or the neighbors. "_Who_ is she anyway? A demon?" I asked him, as an other question popped up into my head. _Who are Seth's parents?_

Sock sighed and put his spoon back into the cereal bowl. "Let me explain…"

**-A Bert Wysocki flashback-**

"NO, Ben! Chuck Norris would never lose to Bruce Lee!" I yelled at Ben, who was standing in front of some ugly new plant that the _Work Bench _had just begun to sell.

Ben shifted uncomfortably then shook his head. "Sock, I'm pretty sure he did," he replied softly.

"Chuck Norris would NEVER lose to him, because he is a living legend. And what is Bruce Lee, Ben? Exactly, NOTHING!" I shouted, not caring if anyone heard me. After all, Ted was with Sam, talking to him about papers or something.

Ben sighed and looked away from me. As I was about to gloat in his face, but I saw something that made me stop. A person barely visible behind the new plants. I took a step to my left so I could get a better look and saw the only person I hated more than Barney. Seth. He was talking on a cell phone. What he was saying however, I couldn't hear.

"Ben. Seth's back there," I said to him in a hushed tone, and nudged my head over toward Seth, who was too busy talking on his phone to notice.

Ben turned his head to look. Once he saw him, his face paled slightly. Ben then turned his head back to me and nudged it back to Seth. I got the gist of what he was saying and nodded. So, we both walked through the plants and behind him.

"No mom, I'm fine…" Seth said, acting as if he didn't even realize we were behind him. "I've got it under control. You don't need to make Sam conquest crazy… Yes mom, like me… It's just better if he does it on his own will. He'll crack eventually… I've done it before, okay? I have to go now. His friends are behind me… Probably… Bye," he said, clicked the phone shut, and then turned around so he was facing Ben and me.

"You talk to your mommy, Mr. Cereal Thief?" I asked him cockily, then shook my head. "Not cool man," I said to him.

Seth snorted. "You lived with your mom for 26 years. She was practically your world," he said to me softly.

"26 and a half years," I corrected. "And, that was until she got married to Morris," I replied, and crossed my arms in front of my chest as I noticed a rectangular box he was holding his right hand. "You play board games?" I asked mockingly, with an eyebrow raised. "My favorite is _Candy Land_."

Seth glared at me with disgust, and looked to be thinking of taking the gun off his back and shooting me with it. "You know what my favorite non-board game is?" he asked me in a low voice. "It's one I taught Hitler and his Nazi's. You line people up by a ditch, and shoot them. Once their bodies fall in, you put dirt over them. Whether or not they're still squirming," he said, in a threatening tone.

I wanted to tell him 'yeah right', however, the look on his face showed he wasn't lying. "Well- I least I don't steal people's cereal," I said to him, not really thinking of a better come back.

Seth rolled his eyes. "I thought I made that up to you by buying that beer," he said.

"What beer?" Ben asked him.

"It's in the fridge. It's this special beer called Yuengling. You can only get it on the East Coast," he said then shrugged his shoulders.

I looked at Ben for a bief second, then back at Seth. "How much?" I asked him.

"Three cases," he replied.

I sighed, then nodded. "Okay, I forgive you," I replied as I conjured something up in my head. "Who do you have on your phone?"

Seth sighed then looked away for a moment, in contemplation. "My brothers, dad, some demons, a couple human leaders, mom, and the other six deadly sins," he replied, then pocketed his phone. "I'm not lending it to you, if that's what your insinuating. And you can't steal it from me. You have a better chance of jumping off the Empire State building and living to tell about it."

I shook my head. "I'm not," I replied then tilted my head to the left. "What did you mean by 'the other six deadly sins'? Last time I checked, there are eight."

He rolled his eyes. "There are seven. My mom is one of the deadly sins, gluttony. That's why I said 'the other six'. I already mentioned her," he replied then cocked his eyebrows.

"Gluttony? I thought one of your brothers is _Famine_," I asked him.

"She drank a _little_ too much wine while she was pregnant with him," Seth said then frowned. "So, what the point to this conversation?"

"Yeah, Sock. What is the point?" Ben added.

"I just wanted to see if-" I started but was cut off by Seth.

"I'm conquest. Not the deadly sin, lust, Sock," he told me flat out. "And no, I don't have any actresses or models in my cell phone. Thank you."

I felt my mouth drop slightly, surprised that he practically read my mind. I stared at him for a few moments, saying nothing, until I saw him roll his eyes.

"However, I think I may be able to hook you up with someone," Seth told me, with a strange glint in his eyes.

**-Out of Flashback-**

"And that's how it happened," Sock said to me as he slurped the liquid out of his cereal bowl.

I stared at him for a few moments, still in shock. "Oh and the beer Seth bought us is _great_. You should try it Sam. I just used it as milk for my cereal. I can't believe we didn't know about it before," Sock said as he stood up and walked into the kitchen.

After a few seconds, I snapped out of my deliria, and walked into the kitchen as well. "Why of all people, would you go out with _gluttony_? _Seth's __mom__,_" I asked him, as I watched him put the bowl into the sink, and turn around so he was facing me.

"Some of the descriptions that Seth gave," me he answered simply.

I looked at him with a mixture of feelings, what they all were however, I couldn't tell you. "I have to get ready for work," I said flatly, then walked out of the kitchen. _I'll tell him about Morgan once we're at work._


	6. The Color of White

**Here's something you *may want to read. It should help with some possible confusion later on…**

_**I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. - -**_ **Revelation 6:1-2 **

My original plan was to wait to tell Sock about Morgan until we were at work. However, as soon as we walked out the front door, his attention was caught by my new vessel. "Damn, whose car is that?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow as he walked over to it.

I scratched the back of my head and walked over so that I was behind him. "That's the new vessel the Devil gave me," I answered him.

Sock turned is head, a look of weariness in his eyes. "So you can't keep it?" he said with a pout.

"No…" I replied solemnly as I stared at the car.

Sock sighed and turned to face me. "Well then, that means that we're going to have to drive this instead of our cars. To savor its last moments with us," he said then paused. "But, since Ben told me not to ride in the same car with you because of what just happened, maybe you should give me the keys to the vessel and you can drive your feminine car."

I snorted then shook my head. "If you want to ride in it, it has to be with me," I told him flatly.

There were a few moments of silence, until Sock shrugged. "Whatever. It's worth the risk," he said. I rolled my eyes at him, and unlocked both the cars doors. Sock went into the passenger's seat and I went into the driver's.

"So, who's the soul?" he asked me and buckled himself in.

I sighed as I started the car up. "Morgan."

-------

"So, if you die, I can sell all of your stuff on eBay, right?" said Sock as we walked into the _Work Bench_ locker room. I turned my head and gave him a glare, which he seemingly shrugged off.

"Why can't I? It's not like you'll use it," he said, opened his locker up and pulled out his ugly blue apron from it.

I rolled my eyes and opened my own locker up. "Because I don't like the fact that you're talking about my death, when I may not even die," I replied, took my apron out, and put it on.

"Fine," Sock grumbled and shut his locker.

I shut my locker too, as a new idea formed inside my head. "One of Seth's brothers is Death, right?" I asked him, to clarify.

"Yeah. Why?" Sock asked me and started to put his own apron on.

"Well, if he's the personification of death, couldn't Seth just ask him not to come and get me, if Morgan… achieves his goal? So, I would only be wounded, not dead," I said.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess," Sock replied then walked out of the locker room.

-------

It seemed as if everything was going fine so far that day. No Seth or Morgan, no dreams, no almost deaths, etc. It kept on going that way until about 10:30 in the morning, when I saw Sock charging at me.

"Sock? I thought you're supposed to me at the Garden Center," I said to him as he stopped in front of me. We were both at the end of aisle 9.

He took a few deep breaths before answering me. "Dude, Seth is going all around the building looking for you and asking everyone where you are," he said then took an other deep breath. "I saw him when I was walking to the restroom. He sounded really pissed off, Sam," he said with an all most freighted look in his eyes. "You better go in the backroom or something, so he can't find you."

I nodded and walked away from him, and headed to the backroom. _What did I do to get Seth mad at me?_ I thought, as I racked through my brain.

"**SAM!!"** I heard Seth scream from behind me. I didn't bother to stop or even look back. Instead, I broke out into a full-page run, hoping to get out of the _Work Bench_ before he got me. _What ever he thinks I did must be bad._ It didn't help however, because in a few seconds I felt him grab my right shoulder, with a death grip, and drag me a few feet backwards and into the backroom.

Once he and I where both in the room he pushed me so my back slammed into the near by shelves, making my back throb with pain, and held both of my shoulders with his hands. I saw that he didn't have his rifle with him for once, and that his face was completely red with rage.

"WHY IN THE HELL DID YOU STEAL _MY_ CAR!!" he screamed at me. "YOU KNOW I HAD TO CALL MY BROTHER TO COME PICK ME UP?!" he continued. Before I could ask him what he was talking about, Seth pulled me away from the shelves and slammed me into them again, making my mid back explode with agony.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him painfully.

He narrowed his eyes then leaned his face closer to mine, so that our noses almost touched. "I don't know how you did it, but you _never_ steal one of the four Horsemen's vehicles. It's a death sentence. You better be happy that I won't kill you," he said to me in a low voice and tightened the grip he had on my shoulders. _The four Horsemen don't ride horses? _

"Seriously, Seth, I don't know what you're talking about," I said to him in an airy voice.

"Oh, really?" he replied sarcastically. "Then what's the white 1987 Trans Am doing in the parking lot?"

"It's the vessel the Devil gave me," I answered.

Seth rolled his eyes then let go of my shoulders. He walked about fifteen yards away from me, took a cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a number into it. Once he did so he pressed it up against his ear.

"Dad?… Yeah. Do you know if Satan took my car to use it as a vessel?… Yeah, it was gone. I found who had it, but he said that Satan gave it to him to use it as a vessel for a reap… Because it was Sam… Yeah, I'll wait," Seth said into it then sighed.

I walked away from the wall were he had pushed me, and stretched my back, which only made it feel worse. While I did this, I didn't stop looking away from Seth for even a moment.

It was quiet for a little over a minute, until I heard Seth say, "Did you ask him?… What? Why?… Then put him on the phone!… NO! You tell him he talks to me now, or else I'll never open the first seal!… Tell him to try me!…" Their was a few more moments of silence.

"Okay, dad, thanks…" after another few second pause, Seth said into the phone, "Did you find it?… Seriously?… He could have just told me. Satan is such a basted… Yeah, bye," Seth said, clicked his phone shut then looked at me with a sympathetic and slightly embarrassed smile.

"Hi Sammy," he said and walked over to me. "Would you like a back rub?"

"No. I'd like for you to leave me alone," I replied to him as I rubbed my own back, knowing that I was going to have some serious burses.

Seth shook his head unhappily. "No," he said then raised his eyebrow. "Why didn't you tell me you almost got killed the other day?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "What was the point? I lived," I snapped at him.

He tilted his head looked at me with a weird look. "I was also just told that no one was driving the other car," he told me.

I raised my own eyebrows, and acted surprised. "What? That doesn't make any sense," I lied to him, not wanting to tell him about my dreams.

Seth rolled his eyes. "You're a pretty good liar. At least I don't have to make you practice all that much," he said with a sigh.

"I'm not lying."

"Yeah, you are," he replied. "I can tell."

I narrowed my eyes with irritation. "It doesn't matter why I didn't tell you. You know now," I said then walked out of the backroom. Unfortunately, Seth followed me.

"Come on Sam," he said to me, in a whiny voice. "What else would you expect from me when I saw my car in the parking lot? I'm sorry about your back," he said. The next thing I knew, Seth was beside me, his arm about the back of my neck, and was steering me down aisle 2.

"What are you doing?" I asked him irritably, not bothering to fight him off.

Seth didn't answer until we got about mid-way through the aisle. "I have to go back to my brother's car to get my rifle," he said. "And you need to unlock my car so I can put it in there. Besides, I think you should see him."

"What are you going to do after that? I can give you the car back, but you'll still need to lend it to me so I can vessel the soul. Or get back home," I told him. After all, if he didn't have his car back, he'd be over my shoulder 24 seven, having no other place to go. _Damn it, that's probably why the Devil took it from him._

I heard him clench his teeth as we both walked out the building. He steered me to the left side of the parking lot. "I can't. If I just take it back from you, Satan will be _really _angry at me," he said with a sneer, then took his arm off my neck.

"Wait here for a moment," Seth told me and walked six or seven parking spots ahead of me, to a sleek black 2008 Mustang GT, and opened its passenger's side door. _Which Horsemen_ _rides the black horse?_ I thought as I attempted to jog my brain.

I took a step to my left, trying to get a better look at the driver in the car. However, I couldn't see him because Seth was completely blocking him out of my view. Seth leaned inside of the car for a few moments, not appearing to move. I could hear his voice just barely though.

Seth leaned into the car farther then came back out, holding his rifle in his left hand. He turned his head over, so it was facing me and beckoned me to come over to him.


	7. I Spy

**Sorry for the_ really_ long wait. It was the result of multiple things.**

"Sam, we really shouldn't do this," Ben said to me as I put my shoes on.

"Why not? It's not like you held back when I was dating Cady. Or should I remind you that you and Sock danced together in front of us," I reminded him, then shot him a look.

Ben rolled his eyes then sighed. "We thought you were dating the spawn of Satan," he told me.

"Yeah, so what what's the difference now? It's not like Sock's date is a reformed demon," I said then stood up from the sofa. "Are you coming with me or not?"

Ben glared at me, "Fine," he said then stood up as well. "But don't you think that Seth will notice that we're gone?" he said with a quick glance over his shoulder.

I gave him a smug look once he mentioned Seth. I _really _didn't want to think about him because of the Devil stealing his car incident. After I had thought about it for a while, it did make sense that he would have a car rather than a horse. It would attract a lot of unwanted attention to be riding a horse through Seattle rather than a Firebird.

"I doubt that he cares if we spy on Sock," I replied.

"And his mom?" Ben said with his arms crossed.

I had to rack my brain for a moment before answering. "Well, he won't have to know if we leave now," I said in a fast voice then strode over to, and through the front door. I heard Ben's footsteps behind me.

"I'm guessing we're not taking the vessel then," Ben said.

I nodded, remembering how Seth seemingly always knows where his car is. So, if he did actually care that we were spying on his mom and Sock, it wouldn't be the greatest idea to lead Seth right to Ben and me.

_Where is Seth anyway?_ I thought and glanced around the yard as we made our way over to my car.

Ben gave me a nervous look as he went into the passenger's seat, obviously remembering the almost car accident, and buckled his seat belt carefully. I however, didn't bother to, remembering my own dilemma.

"Let me guess," I said to Ben. "Sock and Gluttony are at the brick house?"

Ben nodded.

-------

It felt weird going inside the brick house. I saw Sock through a small crowd, sitting at a table by the back wall. Luckily for Ben and me, he didn't see us.

"I don't see anyone with him," Ben said to me as we walked to a table _just _close enough that we would only be able to hear what they said at Sock's table. We hoped because of the people at the tables between us, that Sock wouldn't see us.

I frowned when I noticed that same thing. "She must be at the bathroom, or didn't show up yet," I said to Ben softly, not wanting Sock to hear us. Right after I said that I saw a woman walk past the table to our left, to Sock's table, and sit across from him.

I looked over at Ben with cocked eyebrows. She was obviously Gluttony, Sock's date, but she wasn't anything like I had pictured, being the fact that she was as thinner than the average American woman. She did however, have an _excessive_ amount of jewelry around her neck, wrists, and fingers. She looked to be about 28 or 29, had sandy blond hair that went to her mid back, milky white skin and pale green eyes that reminded me of Taylor's.

"God, she could pass as Seth's sister rather than his mom," I remarked to Ben, who just shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess your apparent age doesn't matter if you're not human," Ben said, not looking away from Gluttony.

I nodded, remembering all the demons we've met and even the Devil. "You think that they could look whatever age they want to, or that they're just stuck looking that age forever?" I thought out loud.

Ben shrugged his shoulders and we continued to watch Sock's date. Surprisingly he didn't notice us, but if Gluttony did, she didn't let us on.

"Do you think we should leave before them?" Ben asked after about thirty-five minutes of listening to them. It actually uniquely entertaining to do so, from just what they talked about. It varied from television shows, life in general, alcoholic beverages (no surprise there), and even the comment by Sock on how she stays so thin when she eats _worse_ than a trucker. Apparently, she likes a lot of _everything_, including exercise.

I nodded at Ben. "It probably would be best," I said and looked at my watch. "How about in five more minutes?"

Ben shrugged again, pointing to his obvious 'yes' answer. I sighed, surprised that nothing actually happened. I didn't know what I expected per say, just something… wrong?

"I never picked you out for spies," I heard someone say to my right, and to Ben's left. We turned our head over and saw Seth now sitting at our table, his head ducked slightly, probably for the fact that he was tall, and didn't want to be seen by Sock or his mother. "It's okay though, I came here to spy too."

"You spy on your mom?" Ben asked him.

He nodded. "She tends to drink too many liquor shots when she's out… which leads to other things," he said, not looking at us.

I put on a smug expression. "Why did you set up your mom and Sock out in the first place?" I asked him.

Seth frowned, and continued to watch the date. "That should be obvious," he replied after a few moments. "You didn't have to come here though, Sam. She isn't exactly what you call dangerous. She just gets people to fall under her sin, which I'd say Sock already did before so."

"Obvious?" I asked him. "It isn't to me," I remarked.

He snorted. "Come on, Sammy, use your brain. Why would I want my mother distracted?" he said then shook his head slightly.

I glowered at him, then pondered on what Sock had said to be about what happened when he saw Seth at the Garden Center. "I don't know," I replied in a whiny voice after a minute or so.

Seth sighed, then handed Ben something that I couldn't see. "Here, Sam won't be driving back home with you," he said to him.

Ben gave his a puzzled look, then grabbed what Seth handed over to him, my car keys. I felt my heart skip a beat as I felt my pockets for my Hybrid keys, which I didn't find. "Come on, Sammy," Seth said and stood up, grabbing my right arm as he did so, and pulled me with him out of the brick house.

"What the hell?" I said to him once he finally let go after we left the building.

Seth didn't answer at first as he pulled another set of keys out of his pockets, the vessel's. "You left these at the house," he explained.

I gave him glare and crossed my arms. "_Where_ are you taking me? Home?" I asked him irritably.

"Eventually," he replied, and started to walk to my left, down the sidewalk. I had half the mind to just turn around and go back to Ben until I heard Seth call out, "Come on, Sam."

I groaned, but followed him anyway. After about a minute of walking, we came up to the vessel. "_Where_ are you taking me?" I asked again, my frustration growing.

"That, is an excellent question," Seth said happily as he walked to the driver's side of the car, opened its door, and sat in it. I clenched my teeth together, but opened the passenger's seat and at in it too.

Seth turned his head over to me once I shut the car door shut, a happy look on his face. "Can you feel the anticipation, Sammy?" he asked, in an overly exaggerated voice.

"No. No, I can't," I replied flatly.

A smug look appeared on his face, however, you could still see the sarcastic twinkle in his eyes. "You should," he replied as he pulled out of the parking space.


	8. Musical Chairs

"OH, MY GOD!!" I heard myself yell as I felt my body sink into the seat. I looked outside the window. I couldn't see the side walks, buildings, people or anything. Everything was just streaks of colors.

Seth started chuckling manically after hearing what I said, and I saw the streaks of colors outside of the car go past us faster.

"How is this even possible?" I asked him, gripping onto the car seat and the passenger side door tightly.

"How do you think any of us get around so fast?" Seth said with a snort. "This isn't just any car, Sam. This is _my_ car. Whether or not it's going to be temporarily used as a vessel," he told me, then gave me a quick glance.

I sighed, and started to tighten the grip I had on the door and seat. "Where are you taking me?" I asked him again, this time with a shaky voice.

A grin formed on Seth's face, as he continued to look at the windshield. "A monthly meeting," he replied after a second or two.

I cocked my eyebrows. "A _what_?" I asked him, and I started to remember the Devil taking me to, or talking about, the classes he had taught for the alcoholics and the sex addicts. _What on earth would Conquest teach? _I thought, attempting to think of something that he would want the world to know, do, or what he would try to corrupt.

"A monthly meeting," Seth repeated again. "My brothers, dad, and a few other higher powered demons like to have one, so that we can share ideas. Jeez, Sam. How did you think World War I and II started? Meetings, and _a lot_ of planning," he told me then stopped the car abruptly. I felt myself being whipped forward. If it had not been for my seat belt, and the grip I had on the seat and door, my face would have collided into the windshield.

I turned my head and glowered at Seth. "Sorry," he told me. "I'm used to stopping quickly," he said and got out of the car. I clenched my teeth again, but got out of the car as well. Once I was out, I took a look at my surroundings. I had absolutely no idea where I was, it did, however, look like we were deeper into the city, judging from the number of cars going by, and how the buildings on the street were arranged.

"Only today," I heard Seth say, breaking my trail of thought. "Roughly six people won't be here," he said to me, then started to walk to the building in front of us. The building was a dull gray, slightly shorter than the other buildings, it made up for it, however, with its width.

"Why are they not coming? And what's the point of having this meeting if six people aren't going to be here?" I asked Seth, as I followed him to, and inside the building.

Seth sighed before answering. "Dad and Taylor are going out trick or treating," he told me, obviously displeased. "An uncle from my mom's side isn't here because he's mad at me for not giving thought to my mother's suggestion," he continued, rolling his eyes. "The Devil isn't coming because he's having a pity party, for today is his least favorite holiday now. Mom isn't coming for obvious reasons; and my youngest brother isn't here either because he has to make sure that the dead stay dead tonight."

I raised an eyebrow. "Trick or treating?" I clarified. Seth nodded in response. "As what?" I asked him.

"Taylor's going as a Spartan, and dad is going as a dead Athenian warrior," he said then stopped walking once we reached a gray metal door inside the building.

"As for your other question, the point of this meeting is you, Sammy, as well as another individual," Seth told me, then knocked on the door.

I heard what sounded like foot steps on the other side of the door. "Who is it?" I then heard a man's voice say from the other side.

"One, two, of six, and one through eight of thirteen. Both new, and of the last," Seth replied to the voice causally. Surprisingly enough, I heard the door click, and saw it open. The man that was on the other side, was maybe an inch shorter than I was, stocky, and had orange-ish colored hair.

"Did eleven through seventeen of thirteen, come yet?" Seth asked the man.

"Which one?" the other man said.

"New, and of the last," Seth answered.

The orange haired man shook his head. "No. Only he, and his mentor aren't here yet," he replied.

Seth sighed, then nodded. "Okay," he said then looked at me. "This is Ryan," Seth said to me, nudging his hand to the orange haired man. I could vaguely remember Seth mentioning him when he made me play _Risk_. "And Ryan, this is Sam," he said to the man by the door.

Ryan nodded at me, then moved away from the door's opening, to let us in. Seth walked into the room, and I followed him in. The room was larger than I expected. You would be able to easily fit fifty people into it. However, there were only about twenty-five people that were in there, including Seth and me. In the middle of the room was a huge, square, white table with roughly thirty chairs around it. What had me however, was the fact that all the chairs had different colors, and styles to them. There were four in particular, that were taller, and more… elegant than the rest. There was one on each side of the table, and all four of them were dull red. They did have, unlike the rest of the chairs, a letter on them. The one to the right had a "N" on it, the one to the left had a "S" on it, the one on the other side of the room had a "W", and the one that's back was facing me, had a "E".

Not everybody was sitting in their seats, however. Most were mingling around them instead.

"Is everyone here a demon?" I asked Seth.

He shook his head. "No, I'm not, nor is Lee or the deadly sins," he said and took a quick glance around the room. It took me a moment to remember that Lee was one of Seth's brothers. The one that Seth introduced me to when we went to his car to get Seth's rifle. I never actually _really_ talked to him, like I did with Seth and Taylor; well, unless you count the word "hi".

"Oh, and there will be two more people coming. The one isn't a demon, the other one is only half," Seth explained to me.

I pressed my eyebrows together. "Half?" I asked.

Seth nodded. "Half human, half demon," he said then paused. "Almost like yourself, Sam," he said with a mischievous grin then started to walk to the table. Not really knowing what else to do, I followed him. Seth ended up walking to a white leather chair with wheels on the bottom of them. It was sitting beside, and to the right of the elegant chair with the "N". He didn't sit, just stood behind his white chair. He looked at the door we came through, seemingly anxious.

"What?" I asked him, looking at the door myself. Seth looked at me, then nudged his head to the chair that looked like his, only it was fiery red, that was sitting to the right of his white chair.

"Since Taylor isn't here, you can sit in his chair when it starts," he told me, looking once again at the door. I nodded, then watched the door as well, figuring he was waiting for the two people that he told me about. _Why does he seem so anxious about it though?_ I thought, and started to get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

After about a minute of this, I looked back over at Seth. Just as I did so, I heard the door open. My head shot over to it and I saw two people. The one looked like my age, except he was taller than I was by a few inches, and seemed to have a frail, meek look to him. He had pasty white skin, with dark brown hair. The other man was behind him, and I couldn't see who, or what he looked like. After a moment the brown haired man took a step or two to his right, and I could see who the man behind him was. I felt my mouth drop. _Hade. _


	9. Barbie Boy

_I thought it was just a nightmare. _I thought, feeling my knees beginning to shake. _It's okay, Sam, calm down,_ I said to myself, as I watched Hade and the dark brown haired man he was with walk over to Seth and me. _Maybe Hade was referring to an other Zachary in my dream? Yeah, that's it. There are tons of people with the name Zachary out there;_ I tried to reassure myself, with no luck.

Once Hade and the guy he was with reach Seth and me, Hade looked at the elegant chair that had the "N" on it. He had a puzzled look on his face. "Where's your dad?" he asked Seth.

"Out trick or treating with Taylor," Seth replied vapidly.

Hade rolled his eyes. "Let me guess, Taylor's going as a Spartan again, and your dad is going as… Barbie?" he suggested.

"You're half right," Seth answered, obviously trying his best to suppress a chuckle.

"Really? Wow. I would have never thought Taylor would actually go as something else this year," Hade commented then scanned the room with his eyes for a moment. The confused look was back on his face. He seemed to narrow his eyes, before sighing.

"Anyway, Sam, this is Hade; Hade, this is Sam," Seth said to us, nudging his hands at both Hade and I.

Hade gave me a smug look and a nod, then turned to the man he had brought with him. "This is Eddie," he told Seth and me; then told Eddie what our names were.

"So, is Mr. Scrooge letting Eddie sit in his seat since he isn't here today, or are we going to have to bring one in for him?" Seth asked.

Hade nodded. "Yeah, he can sit in it today. I question if it is safe for him to sit there though," he said then frowned. "I'll go grab a blanket and put it over the chair just to make sure," he said then walked away from us.

Eddie looked at Seth and me with small nervous grin. "Should I be worried?" he asked us.

Seth shook his head. "No. Just stay on the blanket, and don't put your arms or hands on the arm rests," he replied.

"A seat that isn't even safe to sit in?" I asked Seth, who simply nodded in response.

Hade came back a moment later with a dark blue blanket over his left arm and walked to a chair that was two to the right from Taylor's. It was the same style as Taylor and Seth's, but wasn't white or red. Instead, it was a pale, pasty looking green color.

He put the blanket over the chair, not caring that his bare skin touched the green leather, and maneuvered the blanket around a few times, trying to get as much of the seat covered by it as possible.

"It should be good now," Hade said with a small grin.

Eddie frowned at Hade; acting as if he didn't fully trust his statement. Hade in return, rolled his eyes once more. "It's fine. I promise," he said to him.

Eddie sighed, made his way to the now blanketed chair and sat down in it. "See, you didn't have your life force sucked out of you," Hade said a little too earnestly to him.

I looked at Seth, about to ask him who's seat it was, and how much longer until the meeting started, but I ended up getting cut off by Hade.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked Seth, who raised an eyebrow. "Alone."

Seth looked confused at the request, but nodded. He and Hade walked by the metal doors and started to whisper to each other.

"Any idea what that's about?" Eddie asked me, apparently just as much in the dark as I was.

I shook my head, still feeling uneasy with Hade. For some reason, still not completely known to me today, I knew that Seth wasn't involved in the Zachary or Hade business. Still, I couldn't help but feel… cautious after the way he talked with Hade. Two things seemed obvious to me at that point. One, Seth had known him for some time; and two, Hade was good at keeping things unknown to others.

"I'm assuming you're not that Horseman, war, right?" I heard Eddie say, snapping me back to the real world.

At first I was confused at the question, until I remembered, and saw, that I was still standing directly behind Taylor's chair. I nodded. "Yeah, I'm not him," I answered. "So, why did they decide drag you down here too?" I asked him.

Eddie twirled the chair around into a complete circle before answering. "Apparently I'm…" he said, and looked as if he was struggling to remember something. "Eleven through- sixteen, of thirteen. New, and of the last- I think," he said with a pondering expression. After a few moments, he nodded, as if he decided that what he had said was correct.

"That's the mean exactly?" I asked. "I heard Seth say some of that gibberish so we could come inside," I continued.

"It has something to do with the bible," Eddie replied, shrugging his shoulders. "New is meaning the new testament. Last means the last book of that testament. And eleven through sixteen of thirteen means: Chapter thirteen, verses eleven through sixteen," he explained. "Apparently, they like to refer to themselves a lot," he added sarcastically.

"What do those verses say?"

Eddie snorted. "Your guess is as good as mine," he answered flatly. "The only reason I knew all that stuff, was because I just asked Hade went we got in here," he said then looked over at Hade and Seth, who were still whispering to each other.

"Let me guess," Eddie said after a few moments. "You're that other guy in chapter thirteen."

Shrugging, I replied, "Either that, or someone in chapter six." Just after I said that, I saw Seth and Hade walking back to where Eddie and I where.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Hade said to Seth arrogantly.

Seth shot him an irritated look, and then before I even realized what was going on, Seth bent his back slightly, and literally _sniffed_ the right side of my neck. I took a few steps a head of me. "What the-" I started.

"Yeah, I can smell it now too," Seth said to Hade in a surprised manner, then looked at me. "Have you been around anyone a lot that you've just met recently?" he asked. "Besides me."

Shaking my head, I answered, "No. Why?"

Hade turned his head, and gave Seth an "oh crap" look. Seth shook his head. "It doesn't have to be what you think," he told Hade.

"What's your theory then, Einstein?"

Seth glowered. "Yours isn't even ethical," he snapped at Hade. "There has to be an other explanation."

"An other explanation for what?" I tried to cut in, but ended up being completely ignored.

"How about we get another opinion on the subject then during the meeting-," Hade looked at his watch, "in three minutes," he suggested irritably. "Bael, perhaps?"

Seth snorted. "Please; don't embarrass yourself. You don't want to end up looking like a fool in front of twenty-five people when they say I'm right."

Hade's nostros flared. "Maybe _you're _the one who doesn't want to bring it up to him because you're afraid of looking like a proud idiot," he countered.

"Or maybe you're both right!" I suggested recklessly. Both Hade and Seth looked at me with cocked eyebrows. "Great, now that's been settled, we can all just sit down," I said and sat in Taylor's chair, which I found to be surprisingly warm.

After a few seconds, Seth finally sat in his seat, and Hade walked over to my right, and sat in a black chair that was made out of tough, worn out black leather. It was sitting beside were Eddie was to the right. And, unlike the chair I was in right now, Hade's didn't have wheels on the bottom.

I turned my head towards Seth. "What was _that_ all about?" I asked him, as I saw someone from the corner of my eye sit beside me on the right.

Seth shook his head unhappily. "You'll find out in a minute," he said, shooting glares passed me and over at Hade, who was making a point in not returning them.


	10. Greek By the Masses

I glanced between Hade and Seth uncomfortably, not particularly liking the feeling of being left in the dark. I stopped after a moment, and noticed that the people around me started to sit in their seats too.

"Don't worry about them," I heard a voice say softly to my right. I turned my head and saw Seth's brother, Lee, sitting beside me in a black leather chair that looked like Seth's, Taylor's, and the possibly lethal green one. Lee had short, straw like brown hair, milky brown eyes and appeared to be a few years younger than I was. "Hade and Seth never really liked each other," he told me. "You should have been here about six months ago; Hade actually tackled him."

I smirked and let out a light chuckle. "Really?" I asked him, as the image came into my mind.

Lee nodded. "Yeah. Seth had gotten Hade mad by telling him that the movie _Little Nicky_was a prefect portrait of Hell. Then of course Taylor started egging it on by telling Hade a bunch of exaggerated truths. My dad ended up stopping it after Hade tackled Seth and started strangling him though," he explained.

I grinned as the mental movie went on in my head; something about Seth being choked tickled me. I licked my lips as a questioned popped into my head. "How did that offend Hade? I mean, I know that movie wasn't all that good, but how did that make him angry?"

Lee frown, looking disappointed. "Sam, what do you think Hade stands for?" he asked.

"Obviously better versions of Hell."

Lee rolled his eyes. "No, I'm taking about his name, not him personally," he told me with a sigh.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I figure that it's nickname for Hayden," I answered.

Shacking his head, Lee said, "Hade isn't a nickname for Hayden, it's a nickname for Hades."

I pressed my eyebrows together. "What? You mean like the Greek god?"

"No, he's not a Greek god. The Greeks got the idea of Hades as the god of the underworld, being that the real Hades is the personification of Hell. It's also how they got the idea of Tartarus too. If you look, both Hades and Tartarus are in the Bible. Then there's Dante's _Inferno_, but I'm not even going to start on that," Lee told me.

I pondered on that for a moment. "The personification of Hell?" I clarified.

Lee shrugged. "To an extent," he said.

Suddenly, I got nudged on my left rib cage. I turned my head over to Seth who was giving me a stern look, then nudged his head in front of him. I got the gist of what he meant, turned my head back to the table then noticed that everyone was now sitting in their seats. Most were whispering to each other, the others were looking at the man that was sitting on the elegant chair with the "E" to my left.

The man looked like he was in his late 30s. He had inky, shaggy black hair, pasty white skin, and dark brown eyes. He seemed to have a look of boredom on his face, as his eyes slowly passed all the people at the table, until they came were Lee was sitting. That's when he started to look between Eddie and me. I felt the hairs on the back on my neck stand up.

I looked over at Seth and Lee uncomfortably, hoping that one of them could tell me who he was. The man creeped me out, which was saying something. Seth looked at between the shaggy black haired man and me for a moment. "That's Bael," he whispered to me softly.

I nodded in acknowledgment then looked back at the man Seth called Bael. Who apparently decided that he'd stop glancing between Eddie and me, and just started staring at me. I felt the blood drain from my face then quickly glanced at the wall on the other side of the room. I felt foolish doing so, being that I never acted that way around the Devil, Seth and other demons. However, there was something about Bael that made me absolutely terrified of him.

After a few moments I heard the whispering die down. I looked back at the table and saw that they were all looking at Bael. When I looked back at him too, I was glad to see that he was no longer staring at me.

Bael sighed unhappily and stood up from his chair. "Since Lucifer isn't here because of obvious reasons, and Abaddon because of his stupidity, I'm the one in charge of the meeting today," he said. There where a few light whispers, however, they died down immediately after Bael gave whoever whispered a deathly glare. "So, if you don't like it, suck it up. Today's meeting is important," he said flatly, looking at Eddie and me. Unfortunately, everyone in the room's attention came onto us as well. Bael smirked, a gleeful look in his eyes. "The supposed antichrist and false prophet," he said then sat down back in his seat.

I widened my eyes. _So, _this_ is what the meeting is about,_I thought, wondering what Bael meant by 'false prophet'. I knew what antichrist (AKA me) was, thanks to Sally, but not the other one. I shot a glare at Seth, for not telling me about the truth of this meeting. He just gave me a smirk and shrugged his shoulders. I continued to glower, not particularly happy with him and started to wish that I could strangle him. I did this until I heard a man's voice that was sitting on the left side of the table.

"When are they getting chairs? War and Death won't not be here forever," he said to no one unparticular.

Seth was the one who answered. "Sometime next week."

I glanced around in confusion with the names he used. _Why didn't he just call Taylor, Taylor?_ I thought, as my metal light bulb click. _They must be using their so-called proper names,_ I reasoned, happy that I now knew whom's chair that Eddie was sitting in—to an extent. Then what the man said hit me. If he wanted to know about chairs, that meant that Seth was probably going to make me come here again; I frowned at the thought. Seth seemed to notice the look and started chuckling.

He stopped doing so however, when Hade began to speak. "Sir," he said to Bael, who cocked an eyebrow, obviously not used to being called a formal name by him. "There is something Conquest and I would like your personal opinion on," Hade started, but got cut off by Bael, who was resting his head on the palms of his hands.

"It depends. Not if it has anything to do with homosexuality or _Little Nicky_," he said vapidly, despite a couple of light chuckles, including one from Lee, I heard around the table.

I looked over and saw that both Hade's and Seth's faces were completely red. "Uh, no, it's not about that," Hade said uncomfortably, apparently just as timid around him as I was mortified of the man. "It's a strange smell that we've found on the beast," he said.

I glanced at Seth with a look of confusion. "The beast is used as the name for the antichrist the Bible," I heard Lee say to me quietly.

Bael sucked the inside of his right cheek. "Okay? Tell him not to wear that that type of cologne around you then," he said. I noticed the sarcasm in his voice.

Hade sighed. "It smelled like an angel," he told him. "And the smell was too strong to be just some lower, non-important one either," he said then paused for a moment, as if he was trying to sort out his thoughts. "I think it may be an arch, or a higher up one," Hade said.

Bael swayed his head for a moment then rested his eyes on Seth. "You didn't notice this smell until now?" he asked him.

"I'm around him all the time and can't smell things like Hades can. I thought it was just his old friend Steve, occasionally coming by," Seth replied with a shrug.

"When did you start smelling it?" Bael asked him.

Seth bit his lip lightly for a moment in contemplation. "The day he saw me in person. Not dreaming, that is," he answered.

Bael rolled his eyes, stood up from his chair and started to walk over to me. The muscles in my body felt paralyzed as I watched him make his way over to me. Once he reached me and bent his neck so that he could smell the top of my head, I felt so nervous that I unconsciously gripped the arms of Taylor's seat as tightly as I could.

After a moment, Bael stood back upright. "Yeah, it smells like a decently powered angel at the least," Bael said, displeased.


	11. One of the Seventh

**Note:** _To the anonymous __review from_ Saico_, I wouldn't say that Seth is Sam's "owner" per say, but more of the guy who feels the responsibility to make sure that things go as planned._

My mind felt numb with confusion and questions. _An angel?_ I thought. _The only angel I have been around is Steve, and the last time I saw him was when he had broken my wrist._ I glanced down at my still casted right wrist, the buried confusion, depression and anger started to boil through me again.

That's when I remembered the dream I had the night after Seth showed up at the house. The brunette in it had stopped whatever Zachary was trying to do to me. _Didn't he say 'God doesn't want Sam dead. And it's my job to make sure that he stays that way'?_ I thought as the realization kicked in. _He must be an angel._

I saw Bael walk back to his chair, most of the other peoples eyes slide between him and me, as if they weren't sure whom they should be gawking at. "Have you considered moving?" Bael asked me once he sat down.

My lip quivered, but I sucked it up and answered, "No. What would that do?"

Expecting Bael to answer, I was surprised to hear someone from my right speak. "Sometimes angels aren't looking after a person, but a place," he said. I turned my head and saw that it was the person who was sitting in the elegant chair with the "W" on it. He was very thin, bald and had an oily look to him.

I cocked an eyebrow. "An angel is looking after my house?" I asked, doing my best to act clueless.

Bael and the oily man shook their heads. "Not necessarily. It could just be land near that place you live, or maybe a neighbor of yours that has a more powerful angel looking after them," Bael said.

Biting my lip, I nodded, not daring to tell them or my dream, or the possibility of having an angel guarding my back from a psychopath. If I were right, it was probably a good thing that I didn't tell Seth about the dreams I had. Then again, at that moment, I couldn't trust an angel anymore than a demon, if anything maybe less.

After a few seconds of silence, a dirty blond haired man on the left side of the table spoke. "Yes, just find another house, trust us. It's how Abaddon was trapped," he said to me.

I saw Seth scratch the back of his neck. "Actually, a bunch of lower demons have already tried doing that to him, Uncle," he told her.

Seth's uncle shrugged. "Okay then. Move if you don't want angels to try to bury you alive this time," he said then turned his head to a messy brown haired man that was sitting to his left and muttered something to him I couldn't make out.

"Whatever," the brown haired man said lazily to him, not making eye contact.

------

It was well after one in the morning before Seth let me leave. By that time I would have been just fine passing out on the floor.

"Don't worry, Sam," he told me as we walked out of the building. "This isn't going to be an everyday thing."

Frowning, I said with a fake cheery voice, "Yeah, just a monthly."

Seth pressed his eyebrows together looking confused as we got to his car. "Didn't you listen to what we were saying inside?" he asked then got in the driver's seat. I opened the passenger's side door and sat down beside him.

"Dude, I was half asleep after 11," I told him flatly, buckling up my seatbelt preparing for an unhappy ride home.

Rolling his eyes as he started the engine, Seth said, "We're thinking about having them every other week or so."

"_Why?_"

"Why? Because, the Apocalypse is important to us, Sammy. It's like… seven years of non stop Christmas that you had to wait two-thousand years for," Seth told me as he pulled out of the parking space he was in.

-------

I felt about ready to hurl when I got back to the house. "Can't you go regular human speed, Seth?" I asked him, clutching my stomach as I got out of the vessel.

"What would be the fun in that?" Seth said looking at the house. "Damn it," he cursed.

I turned my head towards him. "What?"

Seth bit his bottom lip hard and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath though his nostrils. After a moment he reopened his eyes, a look of awe glistened in them. "Lets just hope I'm wrong," he said and started to walk towards the house.

For some reason, I felt surprised by what he said. However, I put aside my confusion and walked behind him. Once we got the front door Seth opened it easily and he and I walked inside, shutting the door behind me.

The house was dark and quiet. I figured everyone was already asleep until I saw Seth walk into the living room and stop cold in his feet, staring off in front of him.

I turned my head to see what he was staring at and saw a figure sitting cross-legged on the sofa. Who it was, I wasn't able to see because of the lack of light.

I took a step closer and flicked on the light. There were many possibilities going through my head of who it may have been. My first instinct was that it was just Sock, Ben or Nina, feeling too lazy to get up and go to bed. Then I remember what Seth said and my mind raced with thoughts of it being Zachary, the brown haired possible angel, Steve, and even one of the demons that was at the meeting. However, I was shocked to see Seth's heart shaped faced mother sitting on the sofa, arms crossed, glowering at her son.

There was a long pause. "Uh… Hi mom," Seth finally said.

She stared at him unblinking for a moment, looked at me briefly, then back at Seth. "Where were you tonight?" she asked him, her voice reminded me of a mother who had just caught her teenage son sneaking out of the house.

When I glanced over at Seth I could tell from his expression that he was trying unsuccessfully to fight off a sarcastic remark. "It's not the evening yet. It's still morning," he said, tipping his left index finger on the face of his wristwatch.

"You know what I mean."

Seth shook his head. "Mother, it can't be evening and morning at the same time."

"Damn it Seth! I can understand to _some_ extent why you won't put my idea into consideration, but going behind my back-" Gluttony started but was interrupted by her son.

"I didn't go behind your back. I went beside it," Seth stated. When I thought about it, he did have a point.

I glanced at the hallway behind me, and tried to make a break for it, _really_ not wanting to listen to the rest of their argument, but Seth caught my shoulder and made me stay where I was. "I'm doing fine, mother. I don't need your help," he said to Gluttony firmly.

His mother laughed. "Oh really?"

"Things take time mom. It's better to _choose_ to do it, not be corrupted," Seth said. _Corrupted?_

Gluttony shook her head. "You don't have all the time in the world, you know. Sam has a human life expectancy, and isn't as much of a pushover as Bonaparte and Mussolini," she told her son.

Feeling irritated by the way they were talking, I said, "Hello? I'm right here. Either let me go get ready for bed, or stop talking about me like I'm not here."

Gluttony gave Seth a smug look. "I rest my case," she stated simply.

"Mom! I know what I'm doing!"

Gluttony rolled her eyes and stood up. "If I can't convince you, maybe Warren can," she said to him. At this, Seth narrowed his eyes at her looking both irritated and scared. She ignored him and walked up to me.

"Sorry you had to listen to us," Gluttony told me earnestly, shot Seth another glare and walked out the front door, shutting it behind her quietly.

"What the hell were you two talking about? And who's Warren?" I asked Seth irritably.

"Warren is one of my mom's brothers. The one that didn't show up at the meeting tonight," he said and walked away from me, obviously not going to share any more information.

I clenched my jaw in frustration, and walked to the bathroom to get ready for bed. _Okay, so if he's one of Gluttony's brothers, he has to be one of the deadly sins,_ I thought. Wanting to know whom the man was. After all, it wasn't an every day thing to see him frightened by a name. I tried to make a metal list of all the seven sins, but was only able to recall Gluttony and Sloth.

Sighing, I finished brushing my teeth, walked out of the bathroom and into my bedroom. I figured that I would Google the seven sins tomorrow for the list of the names. _Hmm, if Warren is one of the sins, Gluttony must have a name too besides the obvious,_ I thought as I lied down on my twin-sized bed.

It was awhile later when I woke up. I let out a moan; my head was throbbing horribly. I sat up and cracked my eyes open. It was still dark out, and my migraine made my eyesight fuzzy.

I stood up, the floor surprisingly cold underneath my feet and held my head; it felt dizzy standing up. I took a few steps forward, but my kneels buckled and I feel down on them. I bit my lip unsteadily and just as I was about to stand up again the room was illuminated with light.

I squinted my eyes at the bright light and saw that I wasn't in my bedroom. The room I was in was large and elegant looking, almost like a ballroom. There was no carpet on the floor, but marble instead. What had my attention, however, was the huge box that was on a wooden table in front of me. The box was only a few feet in height, but certainly made up for in it by its length being it was roughly five or six feet long. The box itself appeared to be made of gold, and had jewels on it.

_Why did the Devil bring me here?_ I thought hazily as I stood up.

"How do you like it?" I heard a proud but eerie voice say behind me. I turned my head around expecting to see the Devil, but instead I met the coal black eyes of Zachary.


	12. The Three Faces of Seth

**Note:**_ Sorry for the wait. My flash drive tried to do acrobatics and sadly… it broke its leg. Badly. The doctors had to amputated it. So, I had to write this over, along with something else that was twenty pages long. D: On the bright side, I just bought a four gig fast drive. Hopefully, it won't try any stunts as well—Oh, and how would you feel if I turned this into a trilogy? Yes, no, maybe so?_

I stared at him blankly, my mind it a haze. Before that, the only detail I really knew about Zachary—besides his voice and general face shape—was that he had black hair. Now, I saw that the he had a milky colored complexion, looked to be in his mid to late 20s, and had dark gray almost black eyes. He was dressed nicely, wearing a black colored shirt and tie. There was something about him that seemed… familiar as well.

Zachary smirked at my silence and walked to the other side of the golden box. "Do you know how long it took me to make this, Samuel?" he asked me as he put his lanky hands on top of the box's lid, peering down at it gleefully.

I continued to stare at him numbly, my mind processing little to nothing. It wasn't until much later I would realize that it was probably Zachary's doing, wanting a more agreeable and clueless me. He looked back up at me, a sly look on his face. "I know this may sound unusual, but I was hoping that you would be in a play with me," he said.

"A play?" I asked Zachary.

He nodded. "More of a role play if you will," he said then paused. "You will play with me, yes?" he asked, his tone was as if he was talking to a child.

I blinked my eyes then shrugged. "I guess."

Grinning, Zachary said, "Great! So, of course you and I will have to be the two main characters," he told me. "You can be Osiris and I will be Seth."

I cocked an eyebrow, my hazed mind confused by the statement. "I'm a pair of shoes and you're playing the Horseman Conquest?" I asked.

Zachary's eye twitched. "No. The Seth I'm talking about isn't real, he's just a made up character from long ago. He's actually who the first Horseman was named after. Osiris isn't real either. He's actually whom they named the brand of shoes after as well," he replied then tilted his head. "There's a Seth in the Old Testament too, but that's another story," he said then snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, people filled the room. However, none of them seemed to notice Zachary or me. They were instead gathering around the handsome golden box or talking to each other. "I don't know about you, but I'm like to skip to the good part," he said, looking at me as if he wanted my approval.

After a few moments of me giving him a blank stare, Zachary must have taken my silence as a 'yes'.

He cleared his throat then shouted to everybody in the room, "Good evening everyone!" The room went silent—for the most part—and everyone turned their heads to face Zachary. I saw three men in their early 30s walk up closer to Zachary; two of them were caring something behind them that I couldn't see.

"As you I'm sure are all aware of, I have brought my… box here with me. Many of you are probably wondering why I brought it," he said and stopped speaking for a moment. "Well, it's come to my attention that I've never actually use it and I definitely don't need it taking up my room. So, I'll give it to anyone, as long as you fit in it properly," he said, turned his head to one of the three men that had walked closer to him during his announcement. The man who had nothing behind his back walked over to the box then he and Zachary pulled its lid off.

Before I could even look inside it, people started to gather around the golden box and one woman with long velvet like black hair stepped into it. I peered down and saw that her feet were about half a foot away from the box's bottom. "Sorry," Zachary told her apologetically. The woman nodded, and got out of the box.

Two more people stepped into the box after her. The first one was a dark skinned man who was a foot too tall, and the second one was a blond woman who was roughly a foot too tall as well. "Sa- I mean, Osiris," Zachary said. I looked up at him. "Try it out," he said, nudging his head at the golden box again.

I shook my head.

"Oh come on," Zachary said teasingly.

Sighing, I looked down into the box, stepped into it, and lied down. To my surprise it actually fit me perfectly, feet resting comfortably at the bottom. Zachary looked down at me and nodded in approval. "Cool, it fits," he said then looked behind his shoulder for a brief second then back at me. "That's good, I won't have to make another one then. So, this is where you will be staying for the rest of eternity," he said calmly.

I tried to sit up quickly, his words seeming to pull the haze off my mind. However, he and the man who had helped him take off the lip pulled it back on before I could. As I started pounding and kicking the lid I heard Zachary's voice say, "Don't try screaming, Samuel. It'll only make you suffocate more quickly." Only seconds after he said that I heard a strange loud clanging noise on top of the box.

"Ethan! Don't dent the damn coffin!" I heard Zachary yell. "We can't take any chance that he'll get Sam out!"

I heard a merer that sounded like a frightened apology then softer rattling noises. "Better," I heard Zachary say irritably. _It's okay Sam, calm down;_ I tried to reassure myself unsuccessfully.

"James, do you know where Hade is?" Zachary said to someone.

I bite down on my lip when I heard the named Hade. _It's okay, it's okay, I will get out of this, _I kept thinking to myself as I tried to feel around for my pockets so I could pull out my cell phone, only to remember that I was still wearing my PJs.

"What do you mean he's not here? Find him. NOW! Or it'll be your heads!" Zachary shrieked. I then heard fast foots steps leave the side of the coffin.

_That's it,_ I thought and just as I was about to start pounding on the lid again I felt a weird brush on my right shoulder. I turned my head to my right and saw a set of big sky blue eyes staring at me. The man was on the side of his back, taking up the extra room that was once in the box. He had dark brown hair, ivory like skin and looked as if he had a soft white glow coming from him. He was the man from my other dream. The possible angel.

"Shh," he said to me softly, and grabbed one of my hands.

I opened my eyes and suddenly I was back at home, in my bed. I let out a gasp and started breathing like I had just ran a marathon.

I stood up from my bed, went to the bathroom and splashed some water into my face, hoping it would help. It didn't. I continued on gasping for the next minute or so until my breathing finally slowed down. I turned the sink water back on and took three gulps of water from my hands before turning it off.

"Sam, are you okay?" I heard someone say behind me. I turned around was able to recognize Ben standing by the door way in the dim light.

Shaking my head I said, "No. Zachary just tried to kill me again."


	13. A Hellhole

"It sounds like a new-aged version of a myth I heard before," Ben said as he sat in front of a library computer, typing in the words `Seth and Osiris' into Google.

I looked over his shoulder. "A myth?" I asked.

Ben nodded as he clicked on one of the links. "Yeah, I can't remember where I-" he said then stopped as he looked at the new web page. "Oh."

"What?"

He shook his head. "Seth and Osiris were gods in Egyptian Mythology," Ben said. "Seth tried killing Osiris by trapping him in a coffin and putting it in the Nile River," he said then scrolled down the page to read more. "He died, but was resurrected by his wife Isis. However, Seth didn't take it lightly then chopped him up into fourteen pieces and spread him across the Egyptian dessert. That time, staying dead for good," he said then frowned. "After Osiris died, he was made into the god who ruled the underworld."

I pressed my eyebrows together at this realization. "God of the underworld?" I repeated.

"Yeah," Ben replied.

"What was he the god of before?" I asked.

"Corn."

"Corn?" I clarified.

"Yeah," Ben answered again.

I bit the inside of my cheek. Why did I feel as if that I was seeing a pattern? "Hey, can you look up what the seven deadly sins are?" I asked him.

Ben cocked an eyebrow. "Why?" he asked.

"It's just that Seth- the real Seth, his mom mentioned a Warren, who apparently is her brother," I explained. "She used his name as a threat, and Seth actually looked _scared_."

"Seth. Scared?" Ben said in a surprised manner as he returned to Google and typed into its bar 'seven deadly sins'. He clicked on one of the links in the middle of the page. "Here," he said and walked away from the computers.

I took a step closer to it, sat down on the chair and read the list.

_1) Envy_

_2) Gluttony_

_3) Greed_

_4) Lust_

_5) Pride_

_6)Sloth_

_7) Wrath_

As I looked at the list, I mentally crossed out Gluttony, Lust and Sloth out as possibilities. Being that Gluttony was his mom and Lust and Sloth would make no logical sense_. Then again, Seth could be afraid of perverts and lazy people,_ I thought then discarded that for the fact that he would be terrified of Sock if that were true.

I sighed unhappily. "What are you doing here, Sam?" I heard a voice say behind me, making me jump.

The voice laughed. "You are so easy," he said. I turned around, expecting to see Seth, but instead saw the Devil. "Out of all the places I would expect you to be, I would have _never_ guessed it would be a library," he said as I exited the web page.

"Yeah, well, we don't have a computer at the house," I told him, which was the unfortunate truth.

"Humph," the Devil said, looking at the computer screen for a second then at my face.

"What do you want?" I moaned. "I thought I didn't have a soul to capture."

The Devil shrugged his shoulders lightly. "You don't, technically speaking," he replied. I looked away from him, remembering him saying that Morgan had escaped. Where was he, anyway? I doubted that Morgan got lost trying to find my house. Maybe the Devil had lied about Morgan hating me. I shook that thought off. Even though I hadn't known Morgan for long, it just didn't seem like his way of thinking.

"Where is Morgan anyway?" I asked him, looking back up at his face. "Sock, Ben and I haven't seen him at all."

The Devil laughed. "Of course you haven't," he said and started to walk away from the computers. I stood up from the chair I was sitting on and strode toward him.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Are you telling me that he _never_ escaped? That you worried me for nothing?" I said angrily.

He stopped walking and turned to look at me. "Oh, Morgan did escape," he told me. "You've just been unable to see him," he explained.

I looked down at the floor and pondered on what he said for a moment. "You mean he's invisible, like the one soul that staked out in the woods?" I suggested.

The Devil shook his head hopelessly as he took a few steps forward a grabbed a book off the wall. "Come on Sam, do you honestly think that Morgan's power would be invisibility?" he asked with a snort as he opened up the book and started to flip through its pages. "Well, unless you want to get into the technicalities again."

I glowered at him, why would he never give me straight answers? "What's that supposed to mean?"

The Devil stopped flipping through the pages of the book he held. "He can… make you think that you can't see him," he said, looking away from the book then reached out and tapped my forehead. "He is able to make you see what ever he wants you to see, Sammy."

I looked away again. That would make sense, but if he was around me all along why didn't he do anything to me? Why wouldn't Seth have seen him? For some reason, I doubted that an escaped soul's power could trick one of the four Horsemen. Then again, Morgan was the Devil's son.

"How am I supposed to capture him then?" I asked. "He could make me see anything."

Satan rolled his eyes. "You remember the glasses I gave you when you had the invisible soul, correct?"

It took me a moment to remember what he was talking about. "You mean those glasses that can make you see someone's true form," I stated. I had completely forgotten about them until that day. The last time I had used them was to look at Cady through them, trying to find out if she was truly the spawn of Satan.

"I don't know where they are though," I said then frowned. "Actually, they were probably left at the old apartment."

The Devil sighed and shut the book that was in his hands. "Andi gave you a box of what she could grab from the apartment," he reminded me. "Have you thought of looking in it?"

Actually, the only thing we took out, or bothered looking at in the box was Ben's crimper. At that moment, I believed the box was underneath Sock's bed. Just as I was going to ask the Devil about it, he vanished. The book he was looking at back on the wall shelf. I scowled irritably as I glanced at the spine of the book. _Dante's Divine Comedy_, it read. Didn't Lee say something about a Dante?

I grabbed the book off the shelve, opened it up and flipped through the first couple pages until I saw the word _Inferno_ underlined. "So this is the book he was talking about," I mumbled to myself, half tempted to rent it out, but then remembered that I didn't have a card. _Ben does though,_ I thought, recalling the time when he complained to Sock and me about not reading and never coming to the hellhole that they call a library.

I shut the book and looked around at the space I was in but didn't see him. Sighing, I walked away from the wall and started to head out to the Young Adult section, sliding my eyes back and forth looking for Ben.

To my luck, I saw him there whispering on his cell phone. As I walked up to him he looked at me. His eyes were wide and his skin looked pastier than normal. "Sam," he said to me. "The house is on fire."


	14. The Ninth is the Worst

**Note: **_When you are reading, you'll see something(s) that will appear to be OOC. Don't worry. I have a __very __specific reason for this, which you will all know. Eventually. XD_

_Sorry I took so long on this. But I promise that I'll update faster. A month is too long!_

* * *

"_What?" _I asked dumfounded. The house couldn't be on fire, the Devil had told me to use the glasses that he had given me, which I was pretty sure was at the house. Unless… "Can Sock hear and feel the fire's heat?" I asked Ben, guessing that he was the person Ben was talking to.

Ben gave me a 'Are you serious?' look, and I just nodded and said, "Trust me. Ask him."

Rolling his eyes irritably he asked the question into his cell then flinched away from the phone. "Yes. He can," Ben said then asked Sock, "Did you call the fire department yet?"

After a moment of silence Ben said into the phone, "Well call them Sock! Sam and I are coming over right now." Then hung up.

Something didn't feel right. Morgan couldn't have made Sock see the fire then because made it clear that he could only cause illusions, not make someone hear or feel something. Which meant that at least one part of the house was aflame; I hoped that it was just a kitchen blaze.

"What was that question about?" Ben asked as he and I quickly strode to the other side of the library.

"I saw the Devil by the computers," I said. "He told me the reason we haven't see Morgan is because he apparently can get inside our heads and make us see what he wants us to see. I thought since he could control our sight, that he might have just made it look like the house is on fire."

Ben snorted. "He must have gotten that power because of how he put on a show for everyone," he said as we got to the doors.

_Damn it, I still have the book,_ I thought looking down at the book Dante's Divine Comedy in my hands. I knew that if I didn't get it now, I would probably never get it. I knew myself well enough that I would never go to the library unless I had to. Then again, I couldn't take the time to rent it out either.

_You could always barrow it,_ I small voice in the back on my mind said. I shook my head, I would I even think that? I wouldn't steal a book.

_Stealing and barrowing are two totally different things. Jeeze Sam, haven't you ever read 'Huckleberry Finn'?_ The voice jeered. It did have a point; it wasn't like I was going to keep the book for the long. I would bring it back.

So as Ben and I were about to pass the doors I looked around to make sure no one was looking—including Ben—and raised my hand high enough as we passed the detector so that they wouldn't read an unchecked book passing it. Normally, it would have rung, but being that the library's were old and rugged, it didn't.

And with that, Ben and I walked over to the other side of the parking lot and went into his car. Apparently, his grandmother finally found his keys. Once I was in the passenger's seat, I put the library book on the floor underneath me.

After we were both in the car and Ben had started driving, I heard him sigh. "I hope it's not to bad," he muttered under his breath.

"Did he tell you how it started?" I asked.

Ben shook his head. "No."

The rest of the car ride was a somber silence. Once we did finally arrive out the house, I was happy to see that it wasn't one of those huge house fires you see on TV.

I ran out of the car and looked though the window by the door of the house. I didn't see any smoke and thinking nothing of it, I walked inside. However, after looking around for a few moments, I didn't see any fire in the kitchen, living room, bathroom, or even any of the bedrooms.

"Sock?" I called out, but received no answer.

"You know Sam, I've always had this really weird talent ever since I was a child," I heard an eerily familiar voice say behind me. I turned around and saw Ben standing behind me. "I could always mimic voices that weren't mine. Actually, it was one of the things our dad was impressed out me," Ben said, but it wasn't in his voice. "You know, before you stabbed me in the back."

I felt my eyes widen and I took a step back. "Morgan?"

Ben shrugged. "In the flesh. So to speak," he said the suddenly were Ben was standing, Morgan's form morphed in-front of me, wearing the clothes he had on the last time I saw him alive.

"You know what's really not fair?" he asked me. "Just because you let me into your home for the last few days of my life, they counted you as my _benefactor_. You know that you'll get tortured less in Hell than me because family is less important than benefactors to them?"

"Morgan, I didn't betray you. I-" I started my but Morgan tackled me onto the floor mid-sentience. I tried to fight back, by he felt stronger than the last time attacked me. After struggling for a few moments, he pinned my hands and shoulders together with his own hands and used his feet and knees to keep my legs down.

"So, this is what I figure. Since of overall injustice on my behalf, I'm going to make up as much as can before I kill you," Morgan said evenly as he took out a small pocketknife out of his front pocket.

While he briefly took his left hand off my right, I attempted to hit him on the head with my casted hand, but he caught it just in time before it collided onto the side of his head. "Come on, Sam," he said as he cut the skin just underneath my cast.

I let out a yelp and he pushed my arm back down on the floor. "How long have you pretended to be Ben? Where is he?" I asked.

"Oh, about two hours," he replied, purposely leaving my second question unanswered as he wiped my blood that was presently on his knife on my jeans. "Who is Seth?" he asked. "Please don't tell me Sock's dating a guy demon."

"Uh, no," I said. Should I tell him who Seth was? I didn't see why not, but then again Seth was only talking to me because he thought that I could be the antichrist. If Morgan knew that, it would probably only tick him off even more.

Morgan tilted his head and looked down at me. Even the night he died, I didn't see that much hate in his eyes. "Well? Who is he, Sammy?" he asked, taking the knife and stabbed me in my right arm, twisting it as he pulled it out. I clenched my teeth to prevent a scream as I felt warm blood hover over my wound.

"Not all parts of Hell are hot, you know," Morgan continued to talk to me as he stabbed me again, this time about an inch under where he last had. He twisted it the blade again as he pulled it out. "There is one ring, the one the farthest down, that is so cold, that the water is completely frozen. Your tears freeze on your face within seconds," he said bitterly.

Just as he was about to stab my right shoulder, I hit him, this time successfully, with my casted wrist. Even though it hurt me in the process, it did cause Morgan to lose enough distraction and loosen his grip on my left arm. I used that arm and what I could with my right one and legs to flip him around so that he was on the floor instead of me.

It didn't last very long however, because Morgan had me back on the floor again. Using the momentum I still had and the slightly loosened grip Morgan had on me I flipped him over again. I had expected him to hit the floor but apparently during our tussle we had rolled over to the wall. Which he slammed his head on decently hard.

Morgan looked dazed, so I took the chance and ran to front door. Once I opened it and looked out I didn't see what I hoped. _Where's the vessel? _I thought franticly. Did Sock take it while I went out to the library?

I turned back around into the house and didn't even see Morgan. That's when I remember the glasses. _Damn it, Morgan's probably hiding the vessel_. I dashed away from the door and into Sock's room. I knelt down beside his bed and to my relief saw a small cardboard box. I pulled it out and searched through it like a mad man. Throwing everything out of it that didn't even remotely look like a pair of glasses. About half way down is when I saw the thick, ugly framed glasses the Devil had given me so long ago.

I picked them up and looked at them backwardly for a moment before putting them on. At first everything went fuzzy, after a moment though, my vision stay still for the most part.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed the box back underneath Sock's bed, stood up and walked out of his bedroom expecting nearly anything. To my surprise, everything looked normal. As I was walking into the living room, scanning around, I saw one of the most horrific things I've ever seen in my life in the kitchen. Which was saying something.

Standing beside the sink, I saw Morgan, but the only reason I knew that was because of his clothes. What I saw was a human being with patches of back and scaly demon skin all over, probably covering half of his body. His face was the worst. The left side of it was normal, but his right eye was completely yellow, and the skin around and above it was scaly demon skin.


	15. Yellow Eyed

**Note:**_ Yes! A nice long one people, I hope you're happy. ;) Anyway, this is what I figure, two or three more chapters after this one and then the next installment. It shall be called: _Angels and Demons_. _

* * *

Was that how he always looked or was that just because he escaped from Hell? I wanted to think that it was the last one, because the idea of me looking anything remotely like that made my stomach turn.

I pretended not to see him and turned away, after all, Morgan never knew about these glasses. He probably thought that I had to get them while he was down stairs.

Either way, I walked to the front door—taking care to listen for any foot steps behind me—opened it up and saw the vessel sitting at the curb in front of the house. Before my mind could even register relief, I heard footsteps so fait, that if I hadn't been paying careful attention I wouldn't have heard them.

It was as if the noise jump-started my legs; I could feel them break into a run underneath me, leading me towards the car. _I'm going to have to try hitting him with it, I don't see how else to do it,_ I thought, praying that the hit wouldn't make any dents for the sake of not putting a certain someone it a _really_ bad mood.

Just as I reached the car's driver side door I glanced over at the front yard, what I saw made me stop. Morgan was standing on the curb by the passenger's door, but he wasn't moving forward, or even looking at me. Instead, he was gawking at the vessel with glazed eyes.

"What is that?" he asked me slowly. What? How could he not know what the vessel was? He was around all this time and even hid it from my sight. He had to have known what it was.

Morgan must have detected my confusion because he said, "I mean, I've noticed it before, but I haven't _really_ noticed it until now. You know?" No. I didn't.

Why didn't he even find it weird that I could even _see_ the car? Was their some sort of Devil power coming off of it making it easier for me to hit him with it? No vessel has ever done that before.

Just as I pushed the thought aside and opened the driver's door, Morgan took a few steps to his right so the he was now right in front of the car. "Can I drive it?" Morgan asked, his words made me stop cold in my tracks.

"_What?_"

"Can I drive it?" Morgan repeated calmly.

Was this some sort of trick to take the vessel away from me? _No, it isn't,_ I found myself thinking. Is this the way the vessel worked? Getting him in the car and not hitting him with it? In a normal accidence, I'd say no, but for what ever reason, I had a feeling that I should just give him the keys. But should I really take the risk of Morgan having the vessel and using it against me? No.

I decided to ignore him and go into the car. However, Morgan caught the door with his hands before I could shut it.

"I'm driving," Morgan told me, and everything I wasn't seeing through the lens of my glasses went black. He was trying to blind me, so he could drive the car?

I decided to take my changes and put the keys in the ignition, in hopes that he would eventually let go after I drove it for a while. That hope quickly left the vehicle when Morgan grabbed me by my neck and shoulders and dragged me out of the car and tried to push himself around me and into the car. I grabbed his chest and did my best to try to pull him away and maneuver around him so I could get back in. He was, however, too strong for me and was in the driver seat within seconds.

Smirking at me, he shook his head like an egotistical teacher correcting his student. "You should have just given me the keys," Morgan said mockingly then turned the ignition. And just like that, I saw Morgan turn into a cloud of red smoke and was sucked into the steering wheel.

-------

"Damn it," I swore. Neither Ben nor Sock was answering their cell phones, which wasn't like them. Could Morgan have gotten to the both of them before I had gone to the library? In a slight panic with the image of the two of them duct taped in the middle of know where, I called Nina.

After what felt like twenty rings, I heard a, "Hello?" on the other end.

"Nina?"

"Yes."

"Do you know where Ben and Sock are?" I asked into my phone.

"Ben said he would be at home."

I let out a curved breath that went through a few strands of hair on my forehead and said, "How long ago was that?"

After a few second pause Nina replied, "Probably about three hours ago or so. Why?"

I looked down at the tips of my shoes before answering. "I think Morgan may have kidnapped them."

"What?! He escaped? Where is he?" Nina shouted at me through the phone. Whether she was angry, irritated, worried or all three I couldn't tell.

"Well, Morgan is already in the vessel," I told her. "I don't know where Ben and Sock are though. They won't pick up their phones," I said then explained to her the Morgan Ben incident a little more in depth.

After hearing what sounded like a muffled curse, Nina said, "I'll be over in ten minutes," and hung up.

Sighing, I clicked my cell phone shut. _I wonder what she is doing that's going to take ten minutes to fly back here,_ I thought, but then quickly brushed it off, realizing that I probably didn't want to know that answer.

However, when I pushed that aside, a new thought, or urge rather, formed inside my head. So, as if I were obeying an order, I took the thick-framed glasses off and looked down at them. After seeing what Morgan looked like with them on, I felt the want- or need rather to look at myself with them on in a mirror.

I remembered when I first got them; the Devil had told me not to put them on with him in front of me, 'Unless you have a change of underwear'. So, if he were really my father would I look anything like how Morgan did, or was some of how he looked just because he had escaped from Hell? For some reason I doubted it.

Licking my lips, I put the glasses back on and stood up. However, when I tried to walk forward, it felt like my legs were petrified to the spot they were standing. _Just do it Sam,_ I said to myself. I was now or probably never. I had to know that I was being told the truth. I had to.

Taking yet another deep breath and holding it in, I started walking forward, turning right when I had to, to get to the bathroom.

Once there, I turned on the light and stepped in front of the mirror, but was unable to make myself look up into it. Instead, I found myself staring at the sink's knobs. _Come on Sam. Just look up,_ I tried telling myself, but for whatever reason I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I must have been standing there for a long time because I heard a, "Sam," to my right after awhile. I turned my head and gasped. I saw a full-embodied demon standing at the entrance to the bathroom.

"What?" the demon asked. It was Nina's normal human voice. _Oh, it's just the glasses making me see her this way,_ I thought.

I shook my head. "Nothing. Just jumpy is all," I told her.

"Since when have you had those glasses?" she asked.

"Almost a year," I replied, not caring to tell her their true nature.

Nina exhaled. "Where's the vessel?"

"Why?"

Rolling her eyes she replied, "Because you can talk to a soul even if they're in their vessel. You didn't know that?"

I squinted my eyes as the memory of Leon flooded into my mind. Nodding, I said, "Yeah. I know you can. Why would you want to talk to Morgan though? It's not like he's actually going to tell us were Sock or Ben are."

"I have my way with words," she said.

"Yeah, but I'm sure Morgan likes you about as much as me right now. You were the one who lured him to Tony's to be murdered," I reminded her.

Nina shrugged. "There really is no other way to do it. I could scower the city, but that would take too much time," she explained.

"Fine. Just follow me," I told her and turned the bathroom lights off. Nina left the bathroom's entrance and I walked out of the room and took a right. Once at the front door Nina, who was following behind me, opened it.

She and I walked outside and went to Seth's car. "It's in the car?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No. The vessel is the car."

Nina raised an eyebrow. "Really? I never heard of a car vessel," she said and opened the car's passenger side door, sat down and moved her hand at me like she was shooing away a cat.

I cocked my eyebrows in confusion.

"Go. I'll probably get more out of him alone," she said. I scoffed, but walked back into the house.

After shutting the door behind me, I felt the acing irritation come back to hit me again. Why couldn't I just look in the mirror? It wasn't that hard. Just walk into the bathroom again and look at yourself. I do it every day, why can't I do it now?

_Because you prefer bliss ignorance,_ I heard myself think then felt the prickling pain on my right arm where Morgan had stabbed me. I had already taken care of stopping the bleeding for the most part before I had called Nina. I would have cleaned them while I waited for her, but the mirror had caused much of a distraction.

So, keeping my right arm as still as possible, I made my way back to the bathroom, flicking the lights back on with my left hand once in.

"Here, let me help you," I heard someone say behind me. I turned around I felt my eyes widen and my mouth drop. I've seen a lot of demons in their true form, but nothing like this. He—or she—looked to be three times the size of Nina's and had a slimy look was over his black, scaly skin. What had me however, were his—or her—vivid neon yellow eyes and the fact that it didn't have wings.

The demon like thing tilted his head as if perplexed by me and gently took my glasses off. Once off I saw a normal looking man taller than I was, brown eyed and had a rifle strapped to his back. "Where did you get these?" Seth asked me and put the glasses on his face, his lips curved into a grin.

I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn't. That was what he really looked like?

"Hmm. Well, I suppose it really doesn't matter. Huh?" Seth said, slipping passed me and into the bathroom. He knelt down by the sink and opened the doors. "This is where you keep the rubbing alcohol, right?"

I grunted. "Get the peroxide out, it hurts a lot less," I told him.

Seth snorted and pulled the rubbing alcohol out as well as a handful of ripped paper towels. "Peroxide also is bad for you," he said as he shut the doors underneath the sink and stood up. "It takes your wound longer to heal when you use it. Besides, rubbing alcohol builds character," he said, opened the alcohol up and put it on the towels. "Push your sleeve up."

I did as he asked and Seth put the soaked towel were I had been stabbed. The burning sensation hit me; I closed my eyes in awe.

"See? That isn't so bad, Sammy," he said, patting the side of my face.

"Do you know were Sock and Ben are?" I asked him.

Seth shook his head. "No, but on the bright side you can assume that they're still alive," he said happily, still keeping the towel on my wounds.

"How's that?"

"Because," he said simply, and I knew that was all he was going to tell me on that subject.

"Why was Morgan so drawn to your car?" I asked him as he pulled the towel away from me and threw it out.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, once we were both out of the house he was looking at you're car as if in a dream," I said. "Was that something the Devil did when he took it, or-"

"It's like that for my car as well with my brothers," he answered. "It's stronger, for my youngest brother's car however. It has to be so anyone would be willing to go with him on a daily basis to Hell and the waiting lines for Purgatory," he said. "However, the souls of the dead especially are attracted to our cars for some reason," he continued, shrugging a shoulder. "Why that is for mine, Taylor, and Lee's I do not know."


End file.
